scents news stories on Newser

Best Aphrodisiac Foods

Evann Gastaldo — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:09:50 CST

If you're looking for a Valentine's Day meal to put you and your lover in the mood, skip the chocolate—you'd need to eat 25 pounds to feel its euphoric effects. And despite the inclusion of popular aphrodisiacs like oysters on many V-Day menus, most meals are so heavy "you...

'Pup Perfumes' Soothe Fido

Mary Papenfuss — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:40:00 CST

Businesses are churning out pet "pheromone perfumes" to give Fido—and Puff—the kinds of smells they require to keep calm and happy. The pheromones can be sprayed, hooked up to a dog collar, and plugged into wall sockets for room coverage to diffuse chemical compounds aimed at soothing animals....

Dog 'Scent Lineups' Called Stupid Pet Tricks

Jane Yager — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:45:57 CST

After years sniffing out drugs and explosives, police scent dogs have found a controversial new line of work: In "scent lineups," a dog given a scent from the scene of a crime picks out a matching smell from a lineup of swabs taken from suspects. Advocates say scent lineups have...

Berlin Wall Becomes Couture

Evann Gastaldo — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:39:01 CDT

The Berlin Wall has long drawn artists, and now the murals they’ve left on its surviving stretch has inspired something else, the AP reports: fashion. Daniel Rodan designed pieces like a green mini dress featuring East Germany’s Erich Honecker kissing Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev for his collection Mauerkleider (“Wall Clothes”),...

Companies Spice Up the Smell Of Clean

Rob Quinn — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:02:22 CST

Makers of household products are constantly working to redefine the smell of clean, the Wall Street Journal reports, even as Americans are spending 40% less time actually tidying up than they did 40 years ago. One of the newest is Procter & Gamble’s Moroccan Bazaar, a ginger-edged scent for those...

Feeling Lonely? Give Your Sweetie's T-Shirt a Sniff

Sarah Quinn — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:17:02 CST

Both men and women cuddle with and smell their loved ones' clothing when they can't be together, MSNBC reports. "When I was going through high school and college, I would wear a boyfriend’s shirt to bed," said the author of a new study on how scent evokes memory. Three-quarters of...

Fragrances Going the Way of the Cigarette

Matt Cantor — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:26:00 CST

Personal fragrances aren't smelling so sweet for US consumers, the New York Times reports: Though perfume varieties have increased, the number of women wearing them is decreasing. Though 85% of women still apply a scent, the ranks of the fragrant thinned by 2 million between 2003 and 2007. The drop,...

The Scent of Money

Sophie Goldstein — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 00:36:00 CDT

Britney's life may be off the rails, but her scent is selling brilliantly, right up there with Liz's and Diddy's. Forbes gives us the top seven celebrity scents, along with their sales tallies for 2006: Sean Combs: Sean John Unforgivable, $74.9 million Elizabeth Taylor: White Diamonds, $60.7 million...