In a new paper published in Science Advances, Takeuchi and colleagues did just that. They tapped the odor-sensing components of a Yellow Fever mosquito (yikes), and rebuilt the entire construct with synthetic biology. Using a parallel chip design, they then carefully placed these biological components as an array onto a chip and monitored the setup with a computer.

— The Biohybrid Systems Laboratory at the University of Tokyo is working on an AI nose. Read more in Scientists Made a Biohybrid Nose Using Cells From Mosquitoes at Singularity Hub.

Smell-based communication has been mooted for some time, but in 2021 we will see sophisticated ways of encoding, recording and reporting olfactory signals. Processing of olfactory data will be added to search-engine/voice-search queries and integrated with multimedia information for sales, marketing, public messaging and educational purposes.

— Read more in We’re about to start sending messages with our noses at Wired.

"Some people like to exercise more than others do, but why this is so is not well understood," lead author Sachiko Haga-Yamanaka of UC Riverside said in a news release. "Taken together, our results show vomeronasal receptors as trait locations for voluntary exercise behavior in mice."

"It's not inconceivable that someday we might be able to isolate the chemicals [i.e., smells] and use them like air fresheners in gyms to make people even more motivated to exercise," senior author Theodore Garland added.

— Read more in Need Motivation to Exercise? Olfaction Is a Primal Motivator at Psychology Today.