Excited to see our paper describing a stereotyped receptor map for smell (led by @davidhbrann.bsky.social ) out in the world! See below for short thread with open access link to paper
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/29/s...
Can we predict what a molecule smells like from its structure? A new exchange in @ChemSenses debates this question. 🧪 @kingfunk.bsky.social
Doty raises a point about the limits of our odor descriptors. Here's a vial from our lab. A trained panel described it as "Musty, Ozone, Earthy, Medicinal." A perfumer smelled it and said: "The hot tub is near." We have room to improve how we describe what we smell.
🎉Congratulations #AChemS2026 Career Award Winners! Don't miss their award presentations tonight at 7:30 PM.
20% of people have impaired smell. Almost no cookbooks account for that. #LongCOVID #anosmia
Rediscovering Flavor, a new type of cookbook, changes that — science, practical guidance, and recipes co-created with smell loss patients.
Preorder open now. 🧪 📖 🍽️
1/3 The humble glass jar is a workhorse in olfactory research, but comes w/ hidden problems:
- Unknown headspace concentration
- Concentration dilution by ambient air
These add noise to odor measurements.
Our preprint introduces something new, something bag.🧪 @jmainland.bsky.social & Matt Andres
Doty replied, pushing back on several points. We see modern models predicting perception as half full and he sees them as half empty. doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bjag004
Doty reviewed the long history of classifying odors and linking them to chemistry. His conclusion: odor qualities are cognitive constructs. They don't map neatly onto physical dimensions the way color maps to wavelength, and computational models “haven’t fared well.” doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bjaf022
In 2023, machine learning models predicting odor character from molecular structure outperformed the median trained human panelist on a prospective test of 400 molecules. These models are now genuine tools, not speculation. doi.org/10.1126/scie...
We argue that although odor perception is cognitively mediated, so is color vision. Color perception changes with brightness, genetics, culture, and context. That didn't stop colorimetry from becoming a precise and practical tool. doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bjag003
Rediscovering Flavor: A Practical Guide for Smell Loss: 9783032080554: Medicine & Health Science Books @ Amazon.com
www.amazon.com
Precise control of odorant concentration is essential for reliable olfactory research, yet existing odorant delivery methods often suffer from solvent interactions and dilution from ambient air, limiting stimulus consistency in olfactory research. We developed an odor sampling bag system using Nalophan plastic to create a closed headspace with air as the carrier medium, eliminating solvent-related variability and ambient air dilution. In two independent experiments, 15 trained panelists each rated the perceived intensity of seven concentrations of benzaldehyde and 2-heptanone using both gas-sampling bags and glass jars. Bags produced higher maximum perceptual intensities (p < 0.001) and greater test-retest reliability than jars (Experiment 1: r = 0.89 vs. 0.81, p < 0.001; Experiment 2: r = 0.86 vs. 0.72, p < 0.001). Notably, the two tested odorants showed different maximum intensities in bags (p < 0.001) but not jars (p = 0.85), suggesting bags better preserve odorant-specific concentration differences. Photoionization detector measurements confirmed stable headspace concentrations over time, comparable to industry-standard Tedlar bags. This cost-effective approach offers improved stimulus control for olfactory psychophysics research. ### Competing Interest Statement Joel D. Mainland serves on the scientific advisory board of Osmo Labs, PBC and receives compensation for these activities. National Institutes of Health, https://ror.org/01cwqze88, F32 DC020380, T32 DC000014, U19 NS112953, R01 DC017757, R01 DC021663
I thank Robert Pellegrino and his associates for taking the time to read my review (Doty (2025) and to put forward what they view are its four key argument
Abstract. Attempts to map odor percepts to physical and chemical parameters have a long and challenging history. In contrast to color vision, where three c
