The Palms scent, called Teakwood, began pumping throughout the resort’s lobby and casino in late-May and, after numerous complaints from both patrons and staff, was discontinued less than a month later. “The place literally stinks. I’d almost rather smell the smoke,” noted one visitor in his online review.

“They thought it would attract people,” concurred a Palms employee. “I think all people have been doing is complaining about it.”

Las Vegas casinos were among the first savvy institutions to recognize the effectiveness of scent marketing and have been using fragrance for years to maximize profits (when the slot machine area of one Las Vegas casino was infused heavily with a pleasant scent, revenues shot up by an astounding 53%). Starting with the pleasant Polynesian scent wafting through the vents of the Mirage in 1990, the trend quickly moved to a fresh coconut fragrance at Mandalay Bay, a light lemon and ginger fragrance at the Encore Spa, and similarly pleasing scents at Caesar’s Palace, Luxor, MGM Grand, Venetian, Monte Carlo, and virtually every big player in Sin City.

The key words here are “pleasing” and “light,” neither of which appears to have been a consideration in The Palms fragrance choice. In fact, little crucial consideration of any kind went into the all-important decision. According to AromaSys president Brad Owen, it can cost between $20,000 and $500,000 a year to effectively scent a large resort or casino, while The Palms spent only $3,200. More importantly, according to Owens, scents are generally tested on focus groups before being put into practical use. George Maloof, owner of the Palms, said his resort did not use focus groups or otherwise conduct any prior testing, but simply chose from a variety of scent samples which were offered.

And poor fragrance choice is only part of the problem, says Owen. There is also the consideration of how strong the scent should be. “You’re not going to be able to please everyone all the time, but you want to get the majority of your customers to be able to walk in and have it be not overwhelming, but barely above the conscious level.”

Whiff-Guy C. Russell Brumfield strongly concurs, likening the subtle art of scenting a space to the art of scenting one’s body. “It is the body upon which the company dabs its seductive perfume,” Brumfield asserts in Chapter 9 of Whiff! The Revolution of Scent Communication in the Information Age, Stewardship and Social Responsibility. “The essence should be inviting and alluring, enticing the customer to become the pursuer. It should beckon the visitor into its space without being an affront to the senses. The scent can create its impression at or even below the detection threshold of the customer. These are the subtle nuances in the art of delivering scent. It is no less complicated than the art of seduction, and neither endeavor should be taken lightly—for obvious reasons. If these measures are ignored, then the process can backfire. Due to scent’s capabilities to make an imprint upon the consumer’s emotions, a poorly executed scent campaign can result in a negative emotional response, and an ultimate distaste for the product or service that the scent was advertising.”

According to a new study published in Nature Neuroscience and detailed at PhysOrg.com, the small team of neurobiologists and mathematicians first studied decorrelation in the olfactory system and found that it makes representations of odors in the brain more distinct. Without pattern decorrelation - a fundamental computation in the brain which also has many applications in computer science and engineering - discriminating odors would be much more cumbersome. However, the mechanisms underlying decorrelation were complicated by non-linearity and recurrent connectivity through which neurons can influence each other in a complex fashion. Thus, the meaning of this arrangement was not understood.

Martin Wiechert, the mathematician in Rainer Friedrich’s group, has now cracked this problem. His mathematical theory, published in Nature Neuroscience, shows that decorrelation emerges naturally from two features of recurrent neuronal circuits: sparse connections and high spontaneous activity.
“We have known for a while from observations that activity is high and connectivity sparse within the olfactory bulb. But we did not know why this is the case,” explains Rainer Friedrich, FMI Group Leader and lead author of the study. “Our mathematical results allow us to explain not only the structure of neuronal circuits in the olfactory bulb but also to understand better what happens when we smell.”

Biologically relevant processes are difficult to explain mathematically not merely because of their complexity, but also because the data necessary to test the mathematical principles is often missing. “Our laboratory is uniquely predisposed for such a study. We have been able to measure activity in individual neurons very efficiently with optical methods for a while now. Such data is crucial to develop mathematical circuit models,” says Friedrich. “As the project progressed, experimentation and mathematical model development cross-fertilized each other. Based on the mathematical studies we devised experiments and were able to provide the data to confirm or rebut mathematical reasoning. In exchange, we received mathematically validated information on how neuronal circuits work.”

While mechanisms of decorrelation are now understood, other neuronal processes such as learning or memory still await mathematical explanation. But no worries: Rainer Friedrich’s lab is perfectly equipped to tackle these questions as well.

“Hello ladies. Look at your man, now back to me. Now back to your man, now back to me,” says a towel-clad Mustafa in a voice dripping testosterone ala Barry White. “Sadly he isn’t me, but if he stopped using lady-scented body wash and switched to Old Spice, he could smell like he’s me.”

Mustafa debuted as The Man Your Man Could Smell Like during the Super Bowl touting the slogan, “Smell like a man, man,” after Procter & Gamble discovered that women purchase approximately 70% of the shower gel for men in their households. More recently, he went viral with an equally hilarious series of personal videos to everyone from Demi Moore and Rose McGowan to President Obama and the Huffington Post. But if you’re not one of the 180+ “fans” who have so-far received a one-to-one message, you probably shouldn’t hold your breath.

“I am just one ridiculously handsome man,” announced the Old Spice-Guy last week. “I can’t write to everyone.”

A rare specimen of the exotic plant is currently raising quite a stink at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Because the titanum blooms briefly only once every few years, the museum decided yesterday to stay open 24 hours a day until Lois (that’s the flower, named after a former employee’s mother) bursts into odiferous bloom, an occurrence which will last only about 8-10 hours and has kept throngs of museum visitors waiting anxiously for days.

“I’m really excited and anxious to see it and smell it, but it’s nature and we can’t rush that,” says staff horticulturalist Zac Stayton, who brought his sleeping bag with him to work and said he does not plan on going home until the the 5-foot-tall bud opens, which is expected no later than tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon. “This is the price you have to pay for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

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Upon discovering that a small amount of natural ambergris had been carefully stored at the Tokyo museum for years, Kanebo Cosmetics struck a bargain to excise and process a tiny sample. Dissolved in alcohol and matured over a period of several months, the final distinctively sweet smelling product is now part of the “Great Mammals Exhibition: Inhabitants of the Seas” which opened on July 10 and will be available to curious whiffers through September 26.