[bobby (OP)]

Dear All

I am currently researching the world of smell and would love to know of any books or websites that breakdown & describe what exactly we smell. For example a car exhaust contains carbon dioxide but also many other chemicals and gases. What do we smell on a flower as well as pollen or how many separate smells are there in a beefburger other than meat and fat. I would be interested to know how many separate odours there are in one subject.[8D]

bob

[NakedScientist]

Dear Bobby

great question. A good place to start would be by reading Peter Brennan's articles :

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/articles/article/peterbrennancolumn2.htm

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/articles/article/peterbrennancolumn.htm

and listen to his interview about smell on the naked scientists radio show:

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/html/shows/2002.03.03.htm

If that leaves a few stones unturned and you want some more info, come back to us.

Best

TNS