The White Noise of Smell

Frosty P. writes "Scientists have discovered a new smell, but you may have to go to a laboratory to experience it yourself. The smell is dubbed 'olfactory white,' because it is the nasal equivalent of white noise, researchers report in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Just as white noise is a mixture of many different sound frequencies and white light is a mixture of many different wavelengths, olfactory white is a mixture of many different smells. In a series of experiments, they exposed participants to dozens of equally mixed smells, and what they discovered is that our brains treat smells as a single unit, not as a mixture of compounds to break down, analyze and put back together again."

Comments

Re:Smells as a "single unit"

[VortexCortex]

This is why they make such good detectors for things like explosives or drugs

Oh really? I thought they made such good detectors because they can take cues from the body language of their trainers, thus validating a "hunch" and allowing an in for imaginary probable cause... I mean, an electronic chem sniffer would be far more accurate, thus inferior.

Or, do you really believe that horses and dogs can do math?