[smell in music] Frankie Goes to Hollywood

According to this website, Paul Rutherford was taken as a member of Frankie Goes to Hollywood only "for the smell of it".

[link] Octopus's Olfaction for Reproduction

According to a new research, the octopus's olfactory system might have a strong role to the octopus's reproduction.

“They possess a well developed olfactory organ, but to date almost nothing is known” about how it works, write the authors of a new review paper on the topic, published online earlier this month in General and Comparative Endocrinology.

For most of its short life, an octopus focuses on getting food—and turning that food into body mass. Only in the last months (or in some cases possibly weeks or years), does an octopus’s interest turn to love—or reproduction, at least. Recent research suggests that somehow the olfactory organs are partly responsible in this switch from growing to reproduction. As it happens, the olfactory lobe in the octopus’s central nervous system is located near the optic gland, which as been implicated in sexual maturation—as well as the strange but inevitable phenomenon of post-reproduction rapid senescence.

[link] The Sweet Smell of Shops

Scents have been often used to attract customers, and a recent study from the International journal of Marketing Studies shows that customers "felt greater pleasure and stimulation, expressed intention to revisit the store and spent more in a scented environment than in an unscented one."

“Smell is one of the most unique of human senses,” said Jennifer Dublino, vice president of development at ScentWorld Events, the scent marketing industry’s US-based trade group. “Scent enters the limbic system [of the brain] and bypasses all of the cognitive and logical thought processes and goes directly to the emotional and memory areas of the brain. There’s an instant effect on the customer.”

According to Dublino, the global scent marketing industry is growing at a rate of 15% per year. Asia is the fastest-growing market, with Latin America and the Middle East following closely behind.

Read the full article here: Why it matters if stores smell delicious

Nose Knows What the Mind Tells It

I have been suffering from asthma for the last couple of years, and this article is a bad news for me.

According to a new study by Cristina Jaén and Pamela Dalton on the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, when people with asthma think they're smelling something obnoxious, their airways become inflamed, even when the odour is harmless.

Read the full article here: Nose Knows What the Mind Tells It

[SmellQuote] from Person of Interest, "Allegiance"

"Sense of smell is often the most neglected of the five senses, 
and one which machines can't replicate. 
At least, not yet."

The Ambassador Likes to Smell Books Too! ;-)

Last month I was invited to an alumni dinner with the Ambassador of the Netherlands Tjeerd de Zwaan, on the occasion of the visit of the Rector Magnificus of Universiteit Leiden Professor Carel Stolker and his colleagues.

During the dinner me with some friends sat in the same table with the Ambassador himself, alongside the Head of NESO Marvin Bakker and Scientific Director of the Institute for Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Professor Gerard Persoon.

We stumbled upon a topic on tablets replacing real books, and I said to the Ambassador that one thing I do not like about reading digital books on tablets is the lack of book smells, because I like to smell books. Surprisingly, he said that he likes to smell books too! ;-)

And here's us taking a photo with the friendly Mr. Zwaan.

Klinik Kopi

Titing is a coffee fan so she was super excited when Mbak Mirna and Mas Jaya asked us to go to Klinik Kopi (Coffee Clinic) in the north of Yogyakarta.

We went there by taxi, and we finally found the 'clinic' inside an alley, hidden from the busy roads. But it was a nice two-storey building, and when we entered the parking lot mbak Mirna called us from the second floor.

Mbak Mirna and Mas Jaya came with nyitmomo, who could not stop running around and greeting everyone she met. They seemed to be regular customers, who knew each other pretty well.

It was called “coffee clinic” because coffee drinkers were treated like patients - they were asked what sort of coffee they like (acidity, roasting level, etc) and the 'doctor' would give them what kind of coffee they need. The doctor, mas Pepeng, is super-coffee-enthusiast who has travelled across the country to collect the country's coffee diversity. He cooperated with local farmers and local coffee makers to get the finest of their coffee.

When he found out that I don’t drink coffee, he jokingly asked me to leave the clinic xD

That evening the doctor did not feel very well (he got a flu) so he planned to close earlier than scheduled. Luckily Titing and I could make it to the clinic before it closed. Titing had a double espresso of Nagari Lasi, while I had the half espresso (or I actually don't know what it was called, I think it was just a regular ‘light’ coffee) of the same coffee. I couldn't finish mine but it sure was a nice-smelling coffee! :-p

Titing bought a pack of coffee Sindoro and she was very happy - she couldn't wait to share her experience with her fellow coffee lovers.