Yep. A wasp. According to W. Joe Lewis of the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and Glen Rains of the University of Georgia, wasps can be trained in minutes to sniff out drugs, bombs, and bodies. And their sense of smell, which can detect odors as faint as one part per billion, will outperform that of a dog 100% of the time.

The two researchers discovered in 1990 that wasps are able to detect the chemical distress signals sent out by plants which are under attack by caterpillars, swarming to the plants to lay their eggs inside the unsuspecting hosts. Further study revealed that the wasps could be quickly trained to associate virtually any scent, such as chocolate or vanilla, with the presence of an available egg host or food source. “So far we’ve really looked at a wide variety of things and they’ve been able to detect everything they’ve been exposed to,” says Rains. The pair have perfected the training process to the point that they can create an association between any odor and food with only three feedings over the course of five minutes–an important factor, because wasps only live for a couple of weeks.

So, will we soon be seeing wasps straining toward crime scenes at the ends of tiny little leashes?

Not exactly, says Lewis. “What we did was approach the idea of containerizing into a little small capsule area and then pulling the air sources over them. They converge to the inlet quickly and the little camera picks up that all the little dark bodies have suddenly converged around the intake hole in this device.”

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In Philadelphia, Julie Mennella of the Monell Center recruited 26 breastfeeding women who were asked to eat a bland diet and wear pads in their nursing bras, where their own perspiration and milk was collected along with saliva from their infants. Meanwhile, in Chicago, McClintock’s team gathered about 90 women between ages 18 and 35 who had not borne a child and divided them into two groups, one exposed to the actual breastfeeding pads and the other exposed to pads soaked with potassium phosphate, a substance that mimics the concentration of sweat and breast milk. The participants were asked to swipe the pads under their noses throughout the day at any time when they might have wiped their upper lips, showered, or exercised. Women with sexual partners were asked to complete a daily survey rating the degree to which they felt desire for sexual intimacy during each day, while women without partners were asked to report “any fantasies/daydreams today of a sexual or romantic nature.” All subjects were kept in the dark as to the nature of the study and the source of the compounds they were sniffing.

After being exposed to the breastfeeding compounds for two months, women with regular partners experienced a 24% increase in sexual desire, while women without partners reported a 17% increase in sexual fantasies. The control group showed an insignificant decrease in sexual desire for women with partners, and a 28% decrease for those without. “The effect became striking during the last half of the menstrual cycle after ovulation when sexual motivation normally declines,” says McClintock.

Available in ten delicious fragrances including Bubble Gum, Chocolate, and Cotton Candy, the “world’s only gourmet-scented pencils” are guaranteed to maintain their smelly goodness for at least two years, whether stored in or out of their “freshness tubes.” And best of all, Smencils are made from 100% recycled newspapers, so they’re also a sweet a treat for the environment.

“This year BBC Children in Need is all about doing something different, so we thought we should follow that ethos here at Boots. Traditionally, all our Children in Need Pudsey products, which are sold to raise funds for the charity have been focused on children, but this year we thought we should do something different and create products that adults can also enjoy.”

Appropriately named Hug for Her and Hug for Him, the fragrances were specially created to conjure memories of a happy childhood. Hug for Her is all about the familiar smell of bath time–warm towels with a hint of baby powder. Hug for Him smells like wood shavings overlaid with the sweet scent of cola, reminiscent of a school pencil case containing everything from pencils to sticky sweets. “We absolutely tried to recreate comforting scents that are defining memories from childhood. Our customers who buy a Hug fragrance to support Children In Need will relive happy memories of their childhood, whilst the donation they have made will help BBC Children in Need create brighter futures for some of today’s generation of children.”

Each bottle, gold for the ladies’ scent and silver for the mens’, is adorned with a Pudsey-inspired phone charm and costs around £10, with £3.50 being donated to BBC Children in Need, which has raised more than £470m in its 28 years to help the UK’s disadvantaged children.

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]]> http://askthewhiffguys.com/amazon-promotion/top-10-scent-secrets/feed/ http://askthewhiffguys.com/scent-marketing/bada-bing/ http://askthewhiffguys.com/scent-marketing/bada-bing/#comments Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:55:13 +0000 liz http://askthewhiffguys.com/?p=814 Yo, tough guy. Wanna smell like dis here Joisey guy?

You got it! Tony Sirico, best known for his portrayal of the white wing-haired Paulie Walnuts in HBO’s award-winning series The Sopranos, is hours from the launch of his own signature scent!

Inspired by the his mobster alter ego and sporting the therefore-apropos tagline Make it known you mean business, Paulo per Umo will hit the market tomorrow (November 11). “This is the real Tony,” beams Sirico. “I’m well groomed. I smell well. And that’s who I am. I’m a ladies’ man. And the ladies love the smell.”

And if that’s not Walnutsy enough for you, Sirico is equally in-character when he enthusiastically points to his involvement in fine tuning the fragrance. “I got a bottle from them about fifteen times. It took about a year. One day they sent something to my home and bada bing! That did it.”

The UK’s Ministry of Defense has invested £20,000 in development of the new virtual battleground, being pioneered by the Human Interface Technologies team at the University of Birmingham. Like Virtual Iraq, the UK version uses a “smell box” working in conjunction with a large plasma screen. As the user “walks” through various scenarios, the graphics and sounds are supplemented with scents such as body odor, sewage, mutton, spices, and gunpowder. Preliminary testing on the new system will first be carried out using students, who will provide feedback on the realism of the smells and be tested to determine whether the smells improve their memory of various elements of the game. “If our research proves that it works, come 2009, we will start trying it out on real soldiers,” says Professor Bob Stone, who has been researching and developing game-based training at the university for five years. “It could be rolled out across all the services. It would be Brit soldiers who would benefit.”

And, as with Virtual Iraq, the possibility of treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with the new system is being considered. “Smell is so closely linked to emotion and memory, it’s something that we need to take seriously,” says Professor Stone, who also believes the device might be up for sale to the general public within two to three years. “There is no doubt in my mind that the games companies are looking for an inexpensive version for the domestic market.”

Check out the latest update on this exciting event right HERE and remember…
Whatever you smell in Las Vegas will stay in Las Vegas!