In the spotlight

A decade ago, in a field of orange trees in southern Greece, Stéphane Tawil realised that he had lost his sense of smell – completely.Tawil was with friends who were remarking on the perfumed scent of oranges. But he couldn’t smell anything.Costly condition‘I got a cold before this and when you have a cold you usually lose that sense of smell,’ Tawil said. ‘I remember not paying much attention to it. But then it lasted for quite a while.’

Nature Communications - Perception and appreciation of food flavour depends on many factors, posing a challenge for effective prediction. Here, the authors combine extensive chemical and sensory...

Discover the most famous mango varieties in India, from the rich sweetness of Alphonso to the tanginess of Totapuri. Learn about their unique properties and tastes.

A study led by the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) and published in the journal Ecological Economics provides important insights into the future of food labeling in the EU. By ...

Scents, such as coffee, flowers, or freshly baked pumpkin pie, are created by odor molecules released by various substances and detected by our noses.

The determination of odor threshold values can be performed in various matrices, including air, and serves as a parameter to compare the potencies of odorous compounds. Typically, the odor thresholds in air are determined by gas chromatography–olfactory (GC–O) and referenced to an internal standard, most often (E)-dec-2-enal. Herein, a direct gas chromatography-flame ionization detector-olfactory analysis method for the determination of odor thresholds in air is reported. As model substrates for this novel approach, naturally occurring substances (R)-1-p-menthene-8-thiol as well as (3S,3aS,6R,7aS)-3,6-dimethyl-3a,4,5,6,7,7a-hexahydro-3H-1-benzofuran-2-one were used. The latter compound was synthesized from (−)-isopulegol and exhibited an extremely low odor recognition threshold of 1.9 × 10–6 ng L–1 air, the lowest value reported for a fungal aroma compound thus far.

Growing demand for the tasty and healthy food has driven the development of low-calorie sweeteners, sweet taste modulators, and bitter masking compounds originated from natural sources. With the di...

A small team of chemical engineers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, working with a colleague from IA Murins Startups, has developed a way to use machine learning to replicate odors ...

Tracing an orange's flavor could help us get both disease resistance and taste.

A living organism's nose is essentially a biological molecule detector that sends neurological signals to the brain, which then decodes a particular scent. Human noses, with six million olfactory receptors, ...

Artificial intelligence has been used to replicate fragrances more quickly than conventional methods, even taking into account how a scent fades over time