Researchers Induce Smells With Ultrasound, No Chemical Cartridges Required (uploadvr.com)
- Reference: 0181725182
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/04/16/079216/researchers-induce-smells-with-ultrasound-no-chemical-cartridges-required
- Source link: https://www.uploadvr.com/researchers-induce-smells-with-ultrasound/
> A group of independent researchers built a device that [1]can artificially induce smell using ultrasound , with no consumable cartridges required. [...] The team of four are Lev Chizhov, Albert Yan-Huang, Thomas Ribeiro, Aayush Gupta. Chizhov is a neurotech entrepreneur with a background in math and physics, Yan-Huang is a researcher at Caltech with a background in computation and neural systems, and Ribeiro and Gupta are co-researchers on the project with software engineering and AI expertise.
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> Instead of targeting your nose at all, the device directly targets the olfactory bulb in your brain with "focused ultrasound through the skull." The researchers say that as far as they're aware, no one has ever done this before, even in animals. A challenge in targeting the olfactory bulb is that it's buried behind the top of your nose, and your nose doesn't provide a flat surface for an emitter. Ultrasound also doesn't travel well through air. The solution the researchers came up with was to place the emitter on your forehead instead, with a "solid, jello-like pad for stability and general comfort," and the ultrasound directed downward towards the olfactory bulb.
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> To determine the best placement, they say they used an MRI of one of their skulls to "roughly determine where the transducer would point and how the focal region (where ultrasound waves actually concentrate) aligned with the olfactory bulb (the target for stimulation)". [...] According to the researchers, they were able to induce the sensation of fresh air "with a lot of oxygen", the smell of garbage "like few-day-old fruit peels," an ozone-like sensation "like you're next to an air ionizer," and a campfire smell of burning wood. While technically head-mounted, the current device does require being held up with two hands. But as with all such prototypes, it likely could be significantly miniaturized.
[1] https://www.uploadvr.com/researchers-induce-smells-with-ultrasound/
Playing with things we dont understand (Score:3)
Playing with things we dont understand. I am flooded with visions of foot xray machines being useful, asbestos not catching fire, uranium paint glowing not being any problem, heavy lead making gasoline octane ratings higher....
So many useful things here people. Did you know if you take small electric shocks across your temple your vision flickers! Just touch the metal radiator at the back of the classroom that is ungrounded for some reason, then touch your temple. Everyone tried it. I knew better.
Re: (Score:2)
> Playing with things we dont understand. I am flooded with visions of foot xray machines being useful, asbestos not catching fire, uranium paint glowing not being any problem, heavy lead making gasoline octane ratings higher....
> So many useful things here people. Did you know if you take small electric shocks across your temple your vision flickers! Just touch the metal radiator at the back of the classroom that is ungrounded for some reason, then touch your temple. Everyone tried it. I knew better.
Taking a solid blow to the head can often induce a brilliant sensation of a flash in the eyes. Something I'd be happy to provide these researchers, should they be interested in experiencing the sensation.
Re: (Score:2)
> Playing with things we dont understand.
Yes, that's generally how scientific progress and discovery works. All of the things you mentioned were not well-understood in their time, thus the uses were flawed. I noticed that you didn't include things like MRIs, antibiotics, vaccines, or any other "poorly understood initially" type of technology that has had a resoundingly positive impact on human society. I understand caution, but from my reading (aka skimming) of TFA, it doesn't seem like this group of researchers is planning to rapidly monetize thi
Listen, ... (Score:3)
... do you smell something?
interesting but (Score:2)
This is interesting but it is only half-true that the use of consumable chemicals has been the barrier to the creation of scent emitters. The other problem is that no orthogonal basis for olfaction is known. In the case of color, for example, we know that you can combine red, blue, and green to form any desired color. There is nothing comparable for scent. We don't know that you can use, say, rose, bitter almond, and sandalwood to create any desired scent.
Try New Havana Syndrome for Noses! (Score:3)
I will bet money that long-term use of this smellovision technology will cause cumulative damage resulting in, uh, smelling loss.