Collaborate Disseminate
Although we’ve already heard about plants that mimic the smell of rotten meat or feces in order to attract pollen-spreading scavengers, botanists have now discovered that a certain plant really focuses that concept – it mimics the smell of dead beetles… Continue reading Flower mimics the scent of dead beetles to draw in helpful flies
No matter how good we humans have made something, chances are nature did it better millions of years ago. Rather than compete, it’s often better to tap into the natural version – and that’s exactly what scientists have done with the Smellicopter, a dro… Continue reading “Smellicopter” drone uses live moth antenna to sniff out targets
It’s a quandary – leafcutter ants cause a great deal of damage to tropical crops, but applying pesticides to those crops harms the environment. Scientists have developed a possible solution, in the form of a high-tech material that uses an odor to trap… Continue reading “Molecular sponge” could replace the pesticides used for ant control
Body odor is an unpleasant fact of life that we’ve all experienced in some way. Bacteria in the armpit have long been known to be the stinky culprits, and now scientists have discovered a “BO enzyme” in these bugs that’s responsible for the worst of it… Continue reading “BO enzyme” found in armpit bacteria could be new deodorant target
Scientists have already observed that rats will voluntarily share food with other rats who are hungry. A new study now suggests that they do so not just based on what the other rat does, but also on how it smells.Continue ReadingCategory: Biology, Scie… Continue reading “Smell of hunger” may prompt rats to share food
What does it smell like when the wheels heat up on that Formula 1 car you drive at night and on the weekends? You have no idea because the Virtual Reality experience that lets you do so doesn’t come with a nasal component. Yet.
Shown here is an olfactory device that works with Oculus Rift and other head-mounted displays. The proof of concept is hte work of [Kazuki Hashimoto], [Yosuke Maruno], and [Takamichi Nakamoto] and was shown of at last year’s IEEE VR conference. It lets the wearer smell the oranges when approaching a tree in a virtual environment. In …read more
