Bose for the Nose - Technologue

Future Cars and Odor-Cancellation Tech

We car nerds know all about noise cancellation and enhancement. Dr. Bose worked out the math for his noise-canceling headphones on a Zurich-Boston flight in 1978, and car audio systems routinely use similar tech to generate sound waves of identical frequency and amplitude but out of phase to erase cylinder deactivation grumbles or enhance an engine's growl. Manipulating sound (and light for that matter) is a snap because sounds and colors are simple waves that are easily described by amplitude, phase, and frequency. Smell is the final remote sensory frontier to be manipulated. Because our noses can detect and distinguish millions of smells, each comprised of myriad molecules and compounds, the task of detecting and canceling them is complicated, er, myriad-fold.

from Motor Trend Blog http://ift.tt/1zovJtV