DREAMOlfactionPredictionChallenge

Latest

  • Getty Images

    Crowdsourced research predicts what molecules smell like

    by 
    Derrick Rossignol
    Derrick Rossignol
    02.20.2017

    As of now, the only way to tell how something smells is to actually take a sniff. That is to say, there's no observable, scientific measure we know of that can predict how we'll perceive a specific odor. In comparison, things are a little more cut and dried with sights and sounds; because humans use wavelengths to process what they see and hear, we generally agree on, say, how we expect a specific color to look. But scientists now seem to be making progress on the olfactory front: New crowdsourced research has brought scientists closer to predicting a molecule's smell based solely on its chemical properties.