Imagine seeing a bouquet of roses in a movie and also being able to smell the flowers. It's not science fiction, researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm can already send scents digitally.
They measure the chemicals in the smell and recreate them via a digital signal. The receiver then needs to have a special “chemistry screen.”
No one can email you a video if you don't have a screen, the same goes for smell, it becomes an odor screen, says Johan Lundström, professor of psychology with a focus on odour perception at KI.
Psychologists, chemists and mathematicians are involved. So far, they have managed to recreate - and send - three scents. However, Lundström does not want to reveal which ones, as they are competing against an American tech giant.
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