Scent generator threatens to waft Odorama into the 21st century

By Christopher Trout

Finally, an invention John Waters can get behind. When the harbinger of filth brought the odiferous experience to screenings of Polyester, he took the scratch-and-sniff route -- including scents like glue and feces -- now a team of researchers at the University of California in San Diego are expanding on thesmell-what-you-see concept, albeit in a much more high-tech fashion. In collaboration with the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, the team has developed a method for generating odors that could pack the appropriate hardware into a device "small enough to fit on the back of your TV." Basically, scents are produced by an aqueous solution, like ammonia, which is heated by a thin metal wire, and eventually expelled, as an odorous gas, from a small hole in its silicone elastomer housing -- and, bam! You've got Smell-O-Vision. The team has tested its method using perfumes by Jennifer Lopez and Elizabeth Taylor, but have yet to create a working prototype. For the sake of innocent noses everywhere, let's hope Mr. Waters doesn't get a whiff of this.

cnet http://www.engadget.com/UCSD