Catherine de Lange wanted to explore the limits of the human sense of smell, so she put hers to the test. Blindfolded on hands and knees, she attempted to emulate the sensory skills of a sniffer dog by trying to follow a trail of cinnamon oil. See the experiment in the video below.
Catherine was actually repeating a project in which UC Berkeley scientists tried to train people’s noses. Researchers are learning that the human ability to smell is actually far more sensitive than they’d previously realized. One study found that humans can detect some chemicals diluted in water to less that one part per billion — that’s a few drops in an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
What’s more, smell affects human mood and behavior even if people don’t consciously register what they’re smelling.
Check out the Sept. 2011 issue of NewScientist to read the full story.
A Japanese web site dubbed the “Smell Club” has undertaken the mission of mapping the aromas of the world. Launched last month, the site has a couple hundred devoted “smellists” who are cataloging the scents they encounter. For now, you can click on map locations tagged with things like “the bad breath of cats,” “the toasty odor of cow dung,” or “freshly aired futons.” If you read Japanese, that is. It’s unclear how they’ll account for the fact that aromas change, or if they’ll make any attempt to verify the scents.
