Scent as Pest Control?

Hello everyone! My name is Rachel Compton. I am a design intern and will be a guest contributor to the Scent Sciences scent blog!

This may seem to be a bit of an offbeat topic in regards to scent technology, but through my recent experiences, the potential in this untapped concept could mean a great deal of comfort and convenience to the health and well-being of homeowners and renters all over.

So, something I’ve had to unfortunately regularly tackle when I transferred to college and lived on my own for the first time was the problem with bugs. Those pesky invasive insects that I speak of include spiders, ants, cockroaches, silverfish, and the

How do we Know that Scents are Safe? Part 1

The creation of fragrances that are used in so many products, from fine fragrances to hair care products to scented candles to cleaning products – literally thousands and thousands of products – requires many hundreds and even thousands of different fragrance ingredients.  It isn’t enough to think that creating a scent that smells like oranges or grapefruit or any other recognizable, descriptive scent that we know very well will be safe simply because it smells like things that we KNOW in our life experiences to be safe.  Is it safe if it is all-natural?  As it turns out, it may not be even then.  So how do we handle this potential problem?

We start by grounding ourselves with facts.  First, the most potent toxins known to man are all-natural.  One example: aflatoxin.  Second, regardless of the source (natural OR not) if a single chemical structure is derived from natural sources and it is purified OR if it is made synthetically and it is purified (purified is KEY for both) then the toxicity profile will be the same for each.  Third, an ingredient as described above will usually have an effect on tissue when it is applied at a

Scent enabled Cell Phones

So Samsung has just received another patent for a scented cell phone. This will be their third patent, but this one is a bit different than the two previous ones. This phone is planned to have a refilling station when the phone is connected to a dock to recharge. This will recharge the scented sponge in the phone with aromas, but what kinds of scents will be released with this type of phone?

NASA attempting to re-create the smell of space

NASA/ Getty Images

Who would have thought that space actually has a distinct smell? NASA has a hired a scent chemist to recreate this smell in order to train future astronauts. If we will get to smell it, we are going to have to wait and see, but what does space really smell like? According to astronauts space stinks and it’s a rather unpleasant scent. Since it’s so peculiar NASA wants to prepare their astronauts what they, and their noses, are getting into.

Scent Marketing and Advertising

If you could pick an advertisement to smell on top of hearing and/or seeing it, which one would it be?

In South Korea, Dunkin’ Donuts installed a new scent technology into buses and public transit that would spray the scent of coffee into the air for people to smell. The spray was known as “Flavor Radio” and it was set off by the sound of the company’s advertisement when it played on the buses speakers.