http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060712/ap_on_...pan_odors_to_go

This is just weird and, I think, a wasted effort. It just has no important applications to help mankind. All those years and money have been wasted, instead of spent on medical or pharmaceutical researches.

 

Well, if there is anything beneficial in aromatherapy (and heck-if-I-know) then this type of system may actually have a medical application.

 

Might seem stupid on the surface but it has loads of great military implementations.

Eventually it'll learn to make smells that cancel out foul odors.

That way US troops can, at a push of the button, stop smelling those terrorist's dead bodies that are piling up.

 

Your olfactory bulb has one of the highest concetration of nerve endings in your body. . .

There's plenty of positive things that can come of this if folks take the time out and do some work. . . just the idea of making a fully immersive environment, smells included, could very well help acclimate people out of phobias for instance. Imagine if, as excel basely conjectured to, being able to get pre-acclimated to unpleasant scenarios before you enter them.

My friend who studied eneology/viticulture had to sit and memorize 150 smells; imagine having an automated gizmo to help with that.