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We Induced Smells With Ultrasound

writetobrain.com

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Re: We Induced Smells With Ultrasound

#141

Post by macbem »

RedAlakazam wrote: post #125

As someone who was born without a sense of smell this is incredibly intriguing to me. I've always wondered if there's gonna be a time in my life where I'd be able to experience *any* kind of smell through some new scientific discovery. And maybe this is it. Could I shoot you guys a message when I make my way down to Caltech to try this out someday? :)

Out of curiosity, does lacking the sense of smell influence your sense of taste? Do some things taste wildly differently to you versus how your friends would describe them? I have a very weak sense of smell that comes and goes (sometimes I get weeks without being able to smell anything other than the strongest scents) and it definitely has an impact on my appetite and how much I enjoy certain foods. I have noticed that I'm much more sensitive to texture and mouth feel than others and I suspect it's because of this, but I also have AuDHD so I can't be sure.

Re: We Induced Smells With Ultrasound

#143

Post by brilee »

isoprophlex wrote: post #111
exr0n wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a really interesting concept! The wiki page right now ends in "example of a combination of smells that neutralise each other", which makes me wonder if the "olfactory white" combinations are actually tuned to neutralize? I suspect what we're hitting is a bunch of receptors, and the brain is interpretting it as a common strong and evolutionarily important smell (which I assume has stronger pathways by default).

I was an organic chemist, and as such worked I've worked in various "wet" laboratories. All of them had store rooms and cabinets with hundreds or thousands of bottles filled with horribly smelling goop. Besides the occasional terpenoid (naturally occurring things smelling like menthol, cloves or cinnamon) nearly everything there was liquid death. These smells have everything: Harsh solvent-like stuff like strong alco…

I could have sworn that sickly sweet smell was the smell of various phosphine reagents? Just my vague recollection of my time in lab from 15 years ago.

Re: We Induced Smells With Ultrasound

#145

Post by qlm »

exr0n wrote: post #114
SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely, it’s a “we know the only thing anyone cares about right now is AI, so, look this is kind of like AI, sort of, if you squint”

Haha, luckily not! It's a very speculative link, so we didn't want to talk about "AI" too much in the main post. But we originally got interested in this concept because we are interested in other forms of input to the brain (other than the classic reading, listening, watching, etc). The nose is interesting because it seems to have many independent basis vectors and very sharp discrimination ability, so it might be a…

I'd personally be very sceptical that the human brain could derive much meaning from smell beyond "smells bad don't eat" or "reminds me of something", but I guess I would have said the same about creating smells via ultrasound so what do I know.

Re: We Induced Smells With Ultrasound

#146

Post by mcdonje »

exr0n wrote: post #122
jasonjmcghee wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is absolutely my question as well - curious if it's legal to do this, I'm guessing yes as it's an existing ultrasound device? But is there possibility of permanent damage? It's objectively cool, but very curious about the safety as well.

This is the coolest part! Turns out, the powers you need are actually lower than what is used for imaging babies :) We measured our probe with a hydrophone on a computer-controlled scanner to get the pressure field, and made sure that it's below diagnostic levels (the generally accepted mechanical index limit is 1.9 and ours was 0.4 peak). We also made sure to avoid the eyes and keep thermals in check.

That's reassuring, but not entirely reassuring. Fetuses are a bit further from the emitter. You're focusing the pressure waves, but what about peripheral pressure waves disrupting the brain?

Re: We Induced Smells With Ultrasound

#149

Post by technological »

RedAlakazam wrote: post #125

As someone who was born without a sense of smell this is incredibly intriguing to me. I've always wondered if there's gonna be a time in my life where I'd be able to experience *any* kind of smell through some new scientific discovery. And maybe this is it. Could I shoot you guys a message when I make my way down to Caltech to try this out someday? :)

Since you never had any sense of smell, would this help you in developing memories about smell ? I am curious on how your brain react to smell sensation when it does not have any memory associated with it.
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