Studying the worst stinks of the world may not be a dream for you but Jay Witherspoon does it and he's highly capable in the analysis. He's sometimes called 'the nose doctor' but hopefully his colleagues will come up with a cooler name one day. (Science Daily: 'Peeling the onion' to get rid of odors near wastewater treatment plants)
Powerful nuisance odors from sewage and wastewater treatment facilities are a worldwide problem, but finding and eliminating the sources of such unpleasant aromas can be difficult. Scientists have compared the search to peeling an onion -- one layer is found and removed, but then a second and third emerge, ready to make their odoriferous presence known. Scientists have now developed a system to sample, measure, categorize and control these smells and are applying it from Seattle to Sydney.
- SD
When these researchers study stink, they really study it hard.
For field testing, Irwin Suffet, Ph.D., a collaborator from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), developed an "odor wheel." It displays public-friendly general descriptions of a range of smells on the outside and the chemical composition of the smelly agents on the inside. The team uses this wheel to ask the public about a bothersome stench. To capture and measure odors, the researchers use plastic bags, metal containers, sorbent tubes, hand held devices and electronic noses. The samples are then analyzed in laboratories using both sensitive detection devices and human panels. One of the detection devices is typically a mass spectrometer, which can help identify the compounds that make up the offensive scent. The human odor panels determine how strong and offensive the smell is to people, based on their experience.
- SD
Don't be getting all shirty about this work just because you wouldn't want to do it. The purpose of these researchers is high since after identifying stinks then possibly they can eliminate them. After they have successfully dealt with all the stinks from sewage plants, they may even be able to remove them from Washington.
Your basic stink identification is one thing and the next piece is eliminating it. The paper addresses this aspect as well since what difference does it make if they can identify stinks if they can't make them go away.
Once identified, the chemical and its aroma can be eliminated with scrubbers, biofilters or the introduction of other chemicals that can mask the offensive one.
- SD
Masking an offensive smell isn't such a tremendous solution since that means breathing two zero-value chemicals rather than just one but at least there's aesthetic benefit. Fort Worth was plagued by stinks during the heyday of the Stockyards and people would have been happy for some aesthetic offset after dealing with that stink day after day.
It's incredibly tough science since maybe you use some kind of air freshener in a house. As soon as anyone smells that, the reaction will likely be, "Oh, you have cats, do you?"
Trying to mask stinks can backfire immediately since the mask won't fool anyone.
It's similar when someone says, "Oh, this place smells so clean," but that makes no sense since clean doesn't smell like anything.
You can try fooling people but our noses are more sensitive than that so Herr Witherspoon has a daunting task before him. It's one thing to be a high fashion darling who serves as a mixologist for recipes for expensive perfumes but Herr Witherspoon goes for a more fundamental study of scents with chemicals such as hydrogen sulfide which many of us love so much as the smell of rotting eggs.
Here's the Rockhouse Hare-Brained Theory since maybe Herr Witherspoon has 'perfect pitch' for scents the way some musicians have perfect pitch for music. As soon as Herr Witherspoon smells something, he knows what it is and this isn't so far-fetched. If you go out to eat with a cook, that person will often be able to tell you every ingredient in a meal and sense of taste isn't so distant from the sense of smell so maybe such cooks have this perfect pitch as well.
Ed: it's not the same since he has learned them and memorized them
Not so, mate. Some are gifted naturally with perfect pitch but others learn it and I see zero difference between that and any learned skill Herr Witherspoon may have acquired. If you have never eaten with a real cook, do that sometime since it's astounding how they can rattle off all the ingredients including the spices for a meal without ever having tasted it previously.
Powerful nuisance odors from sewage and wastewater treatment facilities are a worldwide problem, but finding and eliminating the sources of such unpleasant aromas can be difficult. Scientists have compared the search to peeling an onion -- one layer is found and removed, but then a second and third emerge, ready to make their odoriferous presence known. Scientists have now developed a system to sample, measure, categorize and control these smells and are applying it from Seattle to Sydney.
- SD
When these researchers study stink, they really study it hard.
For field testing, Irwin Suffet, Ph.D., a collaborator from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), developed an "odor wheel." It displays public-friendly general descriptions of a range of smells on the outside and the chemical composition of the smelly agents on the inside. The team uses this wheel to ask the public about a bothersome stench. To capture and measure odors, the researchers use plastic bags, metal containers, sorbent tubes, hand held devices and electronic noses. The samples are then analyzed in laboratories using both sensitive detection devices and human panels. One of the detection devices is typically a mass spectrometer, which can help identify the compounds that make up the offensive scent. The human odor panels determine how strong and offensive the smell is to people, based on their experience.
- SD
Don't be getting all shirty about this work just because you wouldn't want to do it. The purpose of these researchers is high since after identifying stinks then possibly they can eliminate them. After they have successfully dealt with all the stinks from sewage plants, they may even be able to remove them from Washington.
Your basic stink identification is one thing and the next piece is eliminating it. The paper addresses this aspect as well since what difference does it make if they can identify stinks if they can't make them go away.
Once identified, the chemical and its aroma can be eliminated with scrubbers, biofilters or the introduction of other chemicals that can mask the offensive one.
- SD
Masking an offensive smell isn't such a tremendous solution since that means breathing two zero-value chemicals rather than just one but at least there's aesthetic benefit. Fort Worth was plagued by stinks during the heyday of the Stockyards and people would have been happy for some aesthetic offset after dealing with that stink day after day.
It's incredibly tough science since maybe you use some kind of air freshener in a house. As soon as anyone smells that, the reaction will likely be, "Oh, you have cats, do you?"
Trying to mask stinks can backfire immediately since the mask won't fool anyone.
It's similar when someone says, "Oh, this place smells so clean," but that makes no sense since clean doesn't smell like anything.
You can try fooling people but our noses are more sensitive than that so Herr Witherspoon has a daunting task before him. It's one thing to be a high fashion darling who serves as a mixologist for recipes for expensive perfumes but Herr Witherspoon goes for a more fundamental study of scents with chemicals such as hydrogen sulfide which many of us love so much as the smell of rotting eggs.
Here's the Rockhouse Hare-Brained Theory since maybe Herr Witherspoon has 'perfect pitch' for scents the way some musicians have perfect pitch for music. As soon as Herr Witherspoon smells something, he knows what it is and this isn't so far-fetched. If you go out to eat with a cook, that person will often be able to tell you every ingredient in a meal and sense of taste isn't so distant from the sense of smell so maybe such cooks have this perfect pitch as well.
Ed: it's not the same since he has learned them and memorized them
Not so, mate. Some are gifted naturally with perfect pitch but others learn it and I see zero difference between that and any learned skill Herr Witherspoon may have acquired. If you have never eaten with a real cook, do that sometime since it's astounding how they can rattle off all the ingredients including the spices for a meal without ever having tasted it previously.
No comments:
Post a Comment