Odor

A chemical derived from fungi has been shown to be effective at stopping skunk spray from stinking.

​A team of scientists has solved the mystery of the strange Parkinson's disease smell, revealing a number of skin-secreted volatile biomarkers can be detected in patients suffering from the disease. The next step for the research is to turn this discovery into an early-detection tool.

​In real life, you don't just see and hear things – you also smell them. Therefore, given that virtual reality (VR) headsets are meant to replicate real-world experiences, shouldn't they provide odors along with sights and sounds? That's the idea behind the smelly new Vaqso VR system.

​Currently, in order to check if someone has malaria but isn't showing any symptoms yet, a blood sample has to be drawn and analyzed. Thanks to an ongoing research project, however, it may soon be possible to detect the disease on the spot within seconds – using sniffer dogs.

That unpleasant "cheesy" odor emanating from sneakers after a run is probably caused by bacteria on the skin that feed on sweat and produce isovaleric acid. You could try and mask the smell or use anti-bacterial soap on your feet, but Panasonic has another way – the MS-DS100 shoe deodorizer.

​Could scent-tracking sniffer dogs be out of a job? Well, perhaps eventually. Scientists from Japan's Kyushu University have developed a prototype robot that can detect and follow odors left on the ground, such as those deposited in footprints.

​It's important for us to be able to detect odors such as those emitted by spoiled food. However, what if there were a low-cost "electronic nose" that was better at detecting those things, providing us with an earlier warning? That's what's being developed at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

​Diagnosing symptomatic carriers of malaria is difficult enough, needing careful examination of blood samples, but picking up asymptomatic carriers is even more challenging.​ A team set out to find a way to diagnose those asymptomatic malaria carriers and the key turned out to be in body odor.​

A new long-term study by researchers at Michigan State University has provided evidence that a straightforward scratch-and-sniff test could effectively direct doctors towards those with a high risk of developing Parkinson’s years before the disease exhibits notable symptoms.

Along with the usual desks and blackboards, primary school classrooms may soon be equipped with something a little less traditional – rosemary essential oil. According to a study recently conducted by a team from Northumbria University, the scent of the herb boosts children's working memory.

Scientists have come up with a cold plasma technology to zap cooking odors at the source, which means you'll be able to eat at your favorite soul food joint without smelling like it.

In potentially good news for the noses of gymnasium employees and commuters crammed into packed train carriages on hot summer days, scientists at Queen's University, Belfast claim to have developed the world's first perfume delivery system that releases more aroma the more a person sweats.