A nanoparticle–enzyme sensor that puts out an olfactory signal – a rose-scented compound – allows humans to smell water contaminated by bacteria. The sensor could be used in environments where there’s no access to sophisticated lab equipment and can return a result in just 15 minutes.

— Read more at Sweet scent of roses allows unsafe water to be sniffed out at Chemistry World.

Several countries are considering cataloging smells as part of their national heritage. In 2001, the Ministry of the Environment in Japan selected the country’s 100 most significant fragrances. The fields of lavender in Furano city top the list; the ocean fog of the coastal Kushiro region is fourth. The list also includes handmade soba shops, an old bookstore and rainfall in rice paddy fields. Australia’s Burra Charter, which guides the designation of historic landmarks, includes smell as a crucial feature of heritage. And UNESCO is considering adding the perfume-making practices of Grasse, France—home to the flowers responsible for Chanel No. 5—to its list of intangible cultural heritage.

— Read more at George Washington Stank Here: Emerging Science Charts Our Olfactory Heritage at Newsweek. Most of the article is about the Historic Book Odour Wheel developed by the UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage, which we already referenced here.

Researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and their collaborators have shown that receptors in the noses of mice exposed to certain smells during life are different to genetically similar mice that lived without those smells. Published today in eLife, the study found it is this combination of genetics and experience that gives each individual a unique sense of smell.

— Read more at Genetics, environment combine to give everyone a unique sense of smell at Science Daily.

These measurements are among the first to quantify the perception of odor mixtures, said Ann-Sophie Barwich, a philosopher of science at Columbia University who specializes in olfaction. "Most scientific studies concern individual molecules because it's easier and much more controllable," she said. But it's well known that an aroma is greater than the sum of its parts. There's "this emergent property in the brain that they can combine and make up a potato chip even though individually, they smell like toast and rotten cabbage."

— Read more at Do You Smell What I Smell? (the subtitle: A new study with potato chips suggests we all perceive scents differently, but culture tells us to agree when naming them) at Inside Science.