Friday, July 28, 2023

Smells Like a New Car




That new-car smell may be a sign of exposure to a host of hazardous chemicals
Apr 2023, phys.org

They tested chemicals released into the air by just one vehicle -- a brand-new, midsize, plug-in hybrid SUV in a local outdoor parking lot tested every day for 12 consecutive days using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy.

  • Air temps ranged from 21°C to 63°C (75F - 145F)
  • 20 common volatile organic compounds tested
  • Emissions dependent on material surface temperature rather than air temp
  • Formaldehyde exceeded Chinese government safety standards at some points by up to 35%*
  • Acetaldehyde exceeded standards by 61%*
  • Benzene levels described as being unsafe for drivers breathing it for long drives
  • They suggest new car buyers ride with the windows open

via mechanical and civil engineers and occupational health scientists with several entities in China and School of Mechanical Engineering and College of Architecture and Civil Engineering at Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing Vehicle Emissions Management Affairs Center, Beijing Products Quality Supervision and Inspection Institute, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences at the School of Public Health of Peking University, and Department of Environmental Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health: Haimei Wang et al, Observation, prediction, and risk assessment of volatile organic compounds in a vehicle cabin environment, Cell Reports Physical Science (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrp.2023.101375

*GB/T 27630 - Guideline for Air Quality Assessment of Passenger Cars - Standardization Administration of China, Beijing - 2011

Further Reading on the Smell of the New and a sommelier describing a bunch of new cars’ smells for Car and Driver magazine back in 2003:
Baked Goods, Network Address, 2018

And for those who venture the New Jersey Turnpike:
What Exit? The Smells of the New JErsey Turnpike, Network Address, 2016

Thursday, July 13, 2023

Plume Tracking and Odor Mapping Algorithms


A deep reinforcement learning model that allows AI agents to track odor plumes
Feb 2023, phys.org

Insects track odor plumes to find mates. (And there was a similar study done recently here.)

"Instead of running a traditional laboratory wind-tunnel experiment, we used a complementary 'in-silico' approach using artificial neural networks," Singh explained. "This helped us develop an integrative understanding of plume tracking across multiple levels, including emergent behavior, neural representation and neural dynamics."

To train their plume-tracking agents using DRL, the researchers first simulated an odor emanating from a source located within a windy arena with a total area of approximately 120 m2. When their agents identified where the source of the odor was located, they received a reward. In contrast, if they lost track of the odor plume and left the arena, they were "punished."

"The behavior that emerges in our trained artificial agents bears a striking resemblance to the behavior modules biologists have previously observed in flying insects performing plume tracking," Singh said.

via University of Washington and University of Nevada: Satpreet H. Singh et al, Emergent behaviour and neural dynamics in artificial agents tracking odour plumes, Nature Machine Intelligence (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s42256-022-00599-w


Thursday, July 6, 2023

E Noses Never


Read this to learn how basically e-noses are relegated to science fiction for the next 20 years at least:

How to make electronic noses smell better
Apr 2023, phys.org
https://techxplore.com/news/2023-04-electronic-noses.html

via Xi'an China Northwestern Polytechnical University: Taoping Liu et al, Review on Algorithm Design in Electronic Noses: Challenges, Status, and Trends, Intelligent Computing (2023). DOI: 10.34133/icomputing.0012


'Electronic nose' built with sustainably sourced microbial nanowires could revolutionize health monitoring
Feb 2023, phys.org

Grown by bacteria. Great, but each nanowire needs to be programmed for each molecule, so a typical top-down approach.

via University of Massachusetts Amherst: Yassir Lekbach et al, Microbial nanowires with genetically modified peptide ligands to sustainably fabricate electronic sensing devices, Biosensors and Bioelectronics (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2023.115147


A robot able to 'smell' using a biological sensor
Jan 2023, phys.org

10,000 times higher than the usual electric-based sensors, these are now biological sensors (not sure the difference). And then they program a "library of smells", so keep in mind that, like all other smell sensors out there, these don't just smell anything that happens to be in the environment -- they can only smell things that have been pre-selected and trained-on. 

via Tel Aviv University's Sagol School of Neuroscience and School of Zoology: Shvil Neta et al, The Locust antenna as an odor discriminator, Biosensors and Bioelectronics (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2022.114919


New devices for conveying olfactory stimuli in virtual reality
May 2023, phys.org

Aerosols and atomizers add bulk to VR gear and entail bottle filling and cleaning. This new approach uses paraffin imbued with scents, released by a temperature-sensing resistor that controls a heating element - the more heat the more scent. But wait -- magnetic induction coils pull heat away from the face to cool the wax quickly when the scent is no longer needed. 

The removal of scent is actually the harder problem to solve than the introduction of scent in these kinds of systems.

via City University of Hong Kong, Beihang University and Shandong University: Yuhang Li, Soft, miniaturized, wireless olfactory interface for virtual reality, Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37678-4