BYPASSING THE NOSE: THE QUEST TO DIGITIZE THE INTANGIBLE SENSE OF SMELL
Bypassing the Nose: The Quest to Digitize the Intangible Sense of Smell From bionic noses to brain stimulation, the future of scent is no longer in your nostrils By Dr. Shamil Introduction In my previous article, AI in Olfaction and the Digitization of Fragrances: A New Era in Perfumery , we explored how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the way fragrances are created, predicted, and personalized. But today, we go one step further. What if we could bypass the nose entirely? In this article, we delve into the next frontier: bypassing traditional olfactory perception altogether through two groundbreaking avenues— neural prediction and bionic olfaction . Inspired by pioneering work such as that of Buck and Axel (1991), who identified odorant receptors, and Khan and Sobel (2004), who mapped how the brain processes smells, researchers are now working to digitize scent at the neurological level . The ultimate goal? To create and transmit digital smells—possibl...