[Michaelangelica]

What is it with popcorn.
a perfumer friend even showed me a pocorn fragrance he made.

Worms Take The Sniff Test To Reveal Sex Differences In Brain
In the experiment at the University of Rochester Medical Center, worms that are hermaphrodites (with characteristics of both females and males) went for the buttery smell, while the males -- the other of the two sexes in these worms -- opted for the scent of fresh vegetables.

But when researchers tricked a few nerve cells in hermaphrodites into sensing that they were in a male worm, suddenly they too preferred the smell of fresh vegetables.

Bizare research?
BUT this is what they say:-

While the olfactory likes and dislikes of the tiny roundworm known as C. elegans is the stuff of distinctive cocktail conversation, trivia is the furthest thing on the minds of Rochester scientists who did the study, which is being published in the Nov. 6 issue of Current Biology.

Geneticist Douglas Portman, Ph.D., and graduate student KyungHwa Lee ultimately hope to understand gender differences in diseases like autism, depression, and attention-deficit disorder. Many more boys than girls are diagnosed with ADD and autism, and many more girls than boys are diagnosed with depression. While proposed explanations abound, few scientists debate the notion that the brains of the sexes are in some ways fundamentally different.

The experiments with humble C. elegans, nearly invisible to the naked eye and common in soil worldwide, make up one way that scientists are exploring the roots of a host of conditions that affect the human brain. The research project was funded by Autism Speaks, an organization dedicated to autism awareness and research.

Smell You Later: Scientists Reveal How Mice Recognize Each Other

ScienceDaily (Nov. 5, 2007) — Scientists at the University of Liverpool have discovered that mice rely on a special set of proteins to recognise each other.
. . .
"These major urinary proteins (MUPs) act like a 'chemical barcode' of individual identity -- each individual has a slightly different set of proteins, allowing each animal to be easily recognised.
. . .
even humans, with their relatively poor sense of smell, tend to like the odor of individuals that have different MHC genes from their own,

Smell You Later: Scientists Reveal How Mice Recognize Each Other

Sorry could not resist this one

Why Dinosaurs Had 'Fowl' Breath

Why Dinosaurs Had 'Fowl' Breath

[Michaelangelica]

PS
I just found this.
trying to put K9 out of a job?
'Electronic Nose' Created By Inkjet Printing Can Detect Explosives | Scientific Blogging

'Electronic Nose' Created By Inkjet Printing Can Detect Explosives
Submitted by News Account on 9 November 2007 - 7:50pm. Technology

A tiny “electronic nose” that MIT researchers have engineered with a novel inkjet printing method could be used to detect hazards including carbon monoxide, harmful industrial solvents and explosives.

Led by MIT professor Harry Tuller, the researchers have devised a way to print thin sensor films onto a microchip, a process that could eventually allow for mass production of highly sensitive gas detectors.

[mynah]

Most people who have ever had a cold probably need no confirmation that smell is linked to taste. Why then, are there cases where smell and taste sensations are so discordant?

I recall a special meal where we were served Indian "temple bird" that smelled utterly divine - yet, disapointingly, was more or less tasteless. On the contrary, I can vouch for the fact that the durian fruit is worth seeking out above all others, in spite of its characteristic smell of onions, sweaty feet and the local gasworks. Oddest though, is that few foods smell better to me than a steak and kidney pie - yet the taste makes me feel instantly sick. (I eat almost anything else.)

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by mynah

Most people who have ever had a cold probably need no confirmation that smell is linked to taste. Why then, are there cases where smell and taste sensations are so discordant?

Good point mynah
Have you ever had a Miricle Fruit?
It is a little berry that reverses the tastes of sweet sour.
Lemons, limes, grapefruit, kumquats, taste soo delicious.
I have seen my kids gobble up plates full of sour fruit as if left alone in a lolly shop.!
So how does that work?

Sometimes I think smell can revive memories very powerfully.
I can't abide "pickled herrings in tomato sauce" that my dad ate. i would thow up too at the smell of it.

Perhaps you too have a similar aversion to steak and kidney pie (Which I adore!)
I had 'Skinerian' Aversion Therapy when I was 18 with rum. Showing what a big man I was and becoming sick with it.
I couldn't stand the smell for decades (I finally, bravely, got over it)

I just came across this recent research

The acute sensitivity of human olfaction tends to be under appreciated. "In general, people tend to be dismissive of human olfaction and discount the role that smell plays in our everyday life," said Gottfried. "Our study offers direct evidence that human social behaviour is under the influence of minuscule amounts of odour, at concentrations too low to be consciously perceived, indicating that the human sense of smell is much keener than commonly thought."

Subliminal Smells Bias Perception About A Person's Likeability
"We evaluate people every day and make judgements about who we like or don't like," said Wen Li, a post-doctoral fellow in the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Centre at Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine and lead author of the study.

[mynah]

Would love to reply more fully some time (miracle fruit, subliminal smells, etc.) but life is rather hectic right now, with serious deadlines...

About the pies, though, the odd thing about it is the contrast between my perception of the smell (divine) and the taste (awful). I absolutely can't stand kidneys, even though it has nothing to do with squeamishness (I'll eat the sauce they're cooked in, or the pie crust) or smell (often very nice). Oddly, as a small kid I ate kidney but couldn't stand liver. After having neither for several years, I discovered that my preferences had reversed themselves.

[Michaelangelica]

Fighting Malaria By Tricking Mosquito's Sense Of Smell

ScienceDaily (Sep. 5, 2007) — By mapping a specialized sensory organ that the malaria mosquito uses to zero in on its human prey, an international team of researchers has taken an important step toward developing new and improved repellents and attractants that can be used to reduce the threat of malaria, generally considered the most prevalent life-threatening disease in the world.

Fighting Malaria By Tricking Mosquito's Sense Of Smell

[jamesrnlty]

Hello dear,
please tell me something about perfumes. which perfume will be best and from where perfume should be purchase


James Charnly

[jamesrnlty]

what are the branded perfumes in the market?

[Michaelangelica]

A lemon scented harvest
A lemon scented harvest. 02 Jan 2008. Rural Online. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)



A lemon scented harvest. 02 Jan 2008. Rural Online. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

[Michaelangelica]

Can A Smell Test Predict Parkinson's Disease?

ScienceDaily (Jan. 9, 2008) — Doctors know an impaired sense of smell is an early indicator of Parkinson’s Disease. Now they want to know if a smell test can help determine if people with no symptoms eventually develop the disease.

Can A Smell Test Predict Parkinson's Disease?

Aroma Of Chocolate Chip Cookies Prompts Splurging On Expensive Sweaters

ScienceDaily (Jan. 12, 2008) — Exposure to something that whets the appetite, such as a picture of a mouthwatering dessert, can make a person more impulsive with unrelated purchases,

Aroma Of Chocolate Chip Cookies Prompts Splurging On Expensive Sweaters