Olfactory Fact #140: Body Odor is Rarely Made In Japan

Only about 10% of the Japanese population have detectable body odor and, until recently, young men belonging to that small odiferant segment could be disqualified from military service.

Olfactory Fact #89: Sometimes, All I Need is the Air that I Breathe…and $8.5 billion to make it smell nice

According to Global Industry Analysts, Inc., the world market for air fresheners is projected to reach $8.5 billion by the year 2012.

Olfactory Fact #110: You Smell Better than you Look

The human genome contains more than 1,000 olfactory genes, but only about 300 photoreceptor genes.

Olfactory Fact #35: The Napalm Smells Better at Night

Our ability to perceive odors is least acute in the morning, and increases as the day goes on.

Olfactory Fact #192: Less is More Than Enough

Our sense of smell is so powerful that even the most potent odors we detect are actually only about 0.000,000,000,002 (two-trillionths) of a gram of scent.

Olfactory Fact #38: Your Heart Follows Your Nose

An astounding 75% of the emotions we feel are generated by the smells we encounter!

Olfactory Fact #20: This Candidate May Have Won by a Nose

In a semi-covert operation called The Perfume of the President, South Korean candidate Lee Myung-bak supplemented his campaign efforts by dousing the air at voting booths with the same signature scent he had been spritzing at his campaign rallies, Great Korea. Now-President Lee Myung-bak won the election with 48.7% of the vote–nearly as many as all other ten candidates, combined!

Olfactory Fact #150: It’s Not the Smell of Money that Fills Casinos

When the slot machine area of a Las Vegas casino was infused heavily with a pleasant scent, revenues shot up by 53%

Olfactory Fact #313: Benjamin Franklin Proposed Perfumed Flatulence

In 1781, Benjamin Franklin suggested that the yearly prize of an elitist Royal Society be awarded to the individual who managed to “…discover some drug wholesome and not disagreable, to be mixed with our common food, or sauces, that shall render the natural discharges of wind from our bodies, not only inoffensive, but agreeable as Perfumes.” Lest the sarcasm be lost, he concluded by informing the disdained philanthropists that their efforts were not “…worth a FART-HING.”

Olfactory Fact #18: 1-part Taste plus 2000-parts Smell equals Flavor

The taste buds of human beings can identify only 5 basic sensations: sweet, sour, bitter, salty and savory–all more subtle shades of taste are actually flavors, a co-mingling of those 5 recognizable tastes with the over-10,000 smells recognizable to humans.

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