Olfactory Fact #406: Little Flowers can pack Prescription-Strength Power

A new study from Germany’s Heinrich-Heine University suggests that the fragrance of jasmine acts on gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors, which help to regulate over-excitement in the brain, similarly to such anti-anxiety drugs as valium.

Olfactory Fact #85: Mosquitoes Are Picky Eaters

Mosquitoes sniff out carbon dioxide and a complex variety of the 300+ odorants present in human sweat to choose the tastiest victims from up to 100 feet away.

Olfactory Fact #207: Sniffers Buy More Snifters!

When Finnish scent marketer Ideair tested five restaurants and bars using scented ads for specific liquor brands against five using identical but unscented ads, the result was an astounding 79% boost in sales at the scented locations.

Olfactory Fact #415: Natural Gas Smells Unnatural

When we say, “I smell gas!” - what we are actually referring to is a manufactured sulfur compound called ethyl mercaptan, which is deliberately added to odorless natural gas as an olfactory warning trigger.

Olfactory Fact #48: You Can’t Pick Your Nose Woes

Specific Anosmia, the inability to perceive a specific odor, explains why some people are unable to smell freesias while others are unable to smell skunks…and, no, they don’t get to choose.

Olfactory Fact #206: Scented Ads Make Cars Move Faster

When Mitsubishi’s ad agency OMD placed a leather-scented ad in two major newspapers, its Lancer Evo X sold out in two weeks, prompting a 16% increase in the auto giant’s annual sales in a market that was averaging a 20% decline.

Olfactory Fact #49: Your Taste in Music Really MIGHT Stink…

…and your sport jacket really MIGHT be too loud. Sufferers of synesthesia, a psychological phenomenon in which in the real information of one sense is accompanied by perception in another, may see a sound, smell a color, or hear an odor.

Olfactory Fact #11: Savvy Marketers Aim for the Nose

While our DNA contains 3 receptor genes for vision and 5 for taste, smell has 350 odor-receptor genes, suggesting that nature designed us to be not only more receptive to scent but more affected by it as well.

Olfactory Fact #112: Impatiens Oil Foils Impatience

Feeling fidgety, irritable, or overly-impetuous? As the name implies, essence of Impatiens promotes patience and prudence.

Olfactory Fact #35: Noses are Smarter than Eyes

While 50% of people can remember something they saw three months later, 65% can recall something they smelled a year later.

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