Is it possible to send smell through mobile phones?

Discussion in 'General Science & Technology' started by smslca, Jul 20, 2010.

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  1. smslca Registered Senior Member

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    Hi,

    Can anybody have idea about sending smell through mobile phones by using some sensors?? Is it possible in future?
     
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  3. Stryder Keeper of "good" ideas. Valued Senior Member

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    Yes it will be possible, it requires however manipulating a persons brain through an electronic device to do. Whether it will get past prototyping to the point of actual commercial application is another story altogether, considering that a smell pattern for one person will not necessarily trigger the same fragrance for someone else.
     
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  5. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    Why on Earth would anyone want that?
     
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  7. smslca Registered Senior Member

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    @ Stryder

    I am also thinking in similar way. In future we may expect this feature in mobiles

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    @ Enmos

    Who knows? May be it will play a big role in future

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  8. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    Well, they already invented smellovision, or whatever it's called, years ago and I still don't see it for sale anywhere. I'm thinking there's no demand for it whatsoever.
     
  9. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    I think we'd have to actually recreate the pheromone molecules at the other end. As was pointed out, two people don't have the same reaction to the same pheromone, so trying to directly stimulate the brain wouldn't work.
     
  10. river-wind Valued Senior Member

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    IIRC, smell-o-vision was just a gimmick where the viewer smelled a series of scratch-and-sniff stickers when prompted by an icon on the screen.

    Unlike sound, smell is a detection of the presence of a chemical. The two ways to get someone to smell something would be to fake a positive detection somewhere between the nose and the consciousness (what Stryder was suggesting), or by creating the presence of the chemical on the reciever's end of the connection (what Fraggle Rocker suggested).

    Doing the latter would either be limited to a very small number of smells, or would require some method for generating smells from some base set of ingredients; those ingredients having to be replaced on a regular basis.

    I have to agree w/ Enmos, though. We general don't use smell in a conscious manner for communication, the effort needed to pass information through smell seems to be more than the benefit gained - until we are talking about creating completely realistic virtual realities. Then smell, rather than being a communication mechanism, becomes a required facet of fantasy-building.
     
  11. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    This could be accomplished through the mechanism of synesthesia. There could be drugs that trigger synesthesia, so that other digitially produced stimuli could produce the sensation of smell.
     
  12. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    When I'm using the cell phone in the kitchen, I can smell very well what I'm cooking up for dinner!

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  13. cnidocyte Registered Senior Member

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    I've thought about this a good few times. We could make a devise that contains a huge selection of compounds which the devise releases depending on what smells are called for. It would make films a bit more realistic. You'd get to smell the cadaverine and putrescine of the decomposing body in the film your watching lol.
     
  14. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    You just need a molecular generator at your end to physically assemble the right molecules. Then you only need a few basic elements.
     
  15. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    It just occurred to me that such a device may be dangerous if it's doing anything more than releasing pre-loaded scents.
     
  16. IamJoseph Banned Banned

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    Check it out:

    If there are universal laws governing smell (as opposed to it being a purely subjective experience), it should be possible to send digital representations of scents.

    http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=1790
     
  17. eupyongri Registered Senior Member

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    I agree. We can make a person remote to feel certain smells by stimulating the person's nerves in the brain responsible for smelling.
     
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