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PARIS, Oct 4: Fundamental research into olfaction, which earned US scientists Richard Axel and Linda Buck the 2004 Nobel Prize for Medicine on Monday, is starting to have an impact on daily life. Here are some examples:
RESCUE RATS: Rats are being trained to sniff out earthquake survivors buried under rubble. The rats are fitted with electrode implants in their brains, connected to a tiny radio transmitter that transmits a signal of their cerebral activity.
The rats are trained over months to get a reward when they reach a target smell such as a human odour, and they send back a characteristic "aha!" brainwave they reach their goal.
By triangulating the radio signals, search teams can spot where the rat made the find. The instructors, at the University of Florida in Gainesville and the State University of New York in Brooklyn, hope to have a squad of rescue rodents ready by mid-2005.
SCENT GUN: Japanese engineers are designing an "air cannon" to shoot a smell at you as you walk around a shopping mall. Their hope is to excite a sense of pleasure or anticipation, such as the smell of fresh bread or a new perfume, that will prompt you to open your wallet at a nearby stand.
The gadget comprises a jet that forces a smell-laden vapour into a champer, where it is compressed by a diaphragm and then forced down a fine nozzle towards the target. Aiming is done by a camera, which tracks your eyes and delivers a sniper's shot of odour to place the molecules under your nose.
BUZZ OFF: The next generation of mosquito repellants is likely to be based on the discovery that insects' sense of smell relies on a single gene, Or83b, which codes for the receptor cells that bind to odour molecules.
The gene was found among fruit flies by Rockefeller University researchers, but is common across a wide range of insects. A chemical that blocks the function of the Or83b receptor would help prevent mosquitoes from locating their human prey.
BROTHER, YOU STINK: People can identify the odour of close family members, but they don't like it. Wayne State University researchers in Detroit asked 25 families, which each had at least two children aged between six and 15, to sleep in the same T-shirt for three consecutive nights so that the garment was impregnated with their individual smell signature.
They were then asked to sniff two T-shirts, one worn by a family member and one worn by the outsider. The volunteers notched up a high rate of accuracy, and most said they far preferred the smells of outsiders to their own family, a finding which suggests our olfactory genes are designed to prevent incest.
SMELL BY THE WEB: The British service provider Telewest Broadband is testing a scent-generating gadget to let Internet users to transmit aromas of their choice across the Web.
The "Scent Dome" can generate up to 60 smells from a mix of 20 liquid-filled odour capsules, unleashed by emails or webpages. The company says the smells could be used to enhance a holiday website by generating the scent of sun-tan lotion, or help a grocery store by unleashing the smell of fruit or fresh cakes. -AFP
