Digitizing Smell: Using Molecular Maps to Understand Odor

The world of odor is immense, research suggests that the human olfactory bulb may be able to distinguish more than a trillion odors. Alex Wiltschko, Richard Gerkin and the team at Google have achieved a remarkable feat by mapping the scent of molecules and digitizing the sense of smell. By doing so, the team unlocks the potential to discover new odors and molecules. The team validated their model against new molecules, linked their findings to the biological mechanisms of odor, and expanded their findings to find new approaches to global health challenges. The real world applications of this transformational research is beyond exciting. Article in Scientific American here.

I’m psyched to see what the future holds in the world of smell.

Left: An example of a color map (CIE 1931) in which coordinates can be directly translated into values for hue and saturation. Similar colors lie near each other, and specific wavelengths of light (and combinations thereof) can be identified with positions on the map. Right: Odors in the Principal Odor Map operate similarly. Individual molecules correspond to points (grey), and the locations of these points reflect predictions of their odor character.