Olfactory Fact #100: Essential Oil can Foil a Superbug
May 20, 2009
A 2007 study carried out during ten-months in a Manchester area hospital burn ward released the vapors of a proprietary essential oil blend called BioScent into two patient rooms but not into a third control patient room. Even though MRSA carrying workers and visitors were continually re-contaminating the wards, the scent-treated rooms showed a 90% reduction in infectious microbes from the control room, and no MRSA outbreaks whatsoever for the duration of the study.
Olfactory Fact #414: Germs Recoil from Essential Oil
May 4, 2009
Essential oils that contain phenols–including oregano, eucalyptus, thyme, cinnamon, and clove–are particularly effective against viruses and bacteria.
Olfactory Fact #82: Cinnamon Spice Makes Everyone Nice
April 17, 2009
In addition to spicing up mood and concentration, a study sponsored by Cinnabon found that the scent of cinnamon released into a busy mall caused shoppers to treat each other with more kindness.
Olfactory Fact #213: Peppermint Sweetens Up Your Diet
April 7, 2009
Researchers at Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia found that people who regularly sniffed peppermint consumed 23% fewer calories.
Olfactory Fact #42: Astronauts Don’t Smell So Well
March 26, 2009
The zero-gravity of space causes the sinuses of astronauts to fill with fluid, greatly diminishing their sense of smell. NASA deemed this “odor boredom” so detrimental to efficiency that they now pipe a variety of scents into the air conditioning system of the space shuttle.
Olfactory Fact #292: AIG Execs Need Signature Scents Too
March 17, 2009
At $215,000.00 per bottle, Clive Christian’s Imperial Majesty was the most expensive perfume ever released–a price made slightly less jaw-dropping by the packaging, which consisted of a Baccarat crystal bottle corked at its 18-karat gold collar by a 5-carat diamond.
Olfactory Fact #207: Skunk Smell Travels Well
March 9, 2009
Butylmercaptan, the acrid oily musk fired from the glands of agitated skunks, can be detected by human noses up to 20 miles from the site of discharge.
Olfactory Fact #226: You CAN fool Mother Nature!
March 3, 2009
According to Craig Warren, scientific affairs director at the Sense of Smell Institute in New York, 85% of synthetic fragrances are made of molecules identical to those of natural fragrances made from botanicals.
Olfactory Fact #141: Not All Sweat is Created Equal
February 26, 2009
A Rice University study which subjected the brains of women to MRI scans while they sniffed the sweat of men who were watching educational videos–then again while they sniffed the sweat of men watching more titillating videos–showed a markedly higher reaction to the sexual sweat in two regions of the women’s brains: the orbitofrontal cortex (an olfactory area) and the fusiform gyrus (responsible for face/body recognition).
Olfactory Fact #102: Sex Smells.
February 17, 2009
A study at the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago revealed that 90% of patients who had lost their sense of smell as a result of head trauma suffered sexual dysfunction.
