Humans can see the color white and, as recently demonstrated, we are able to hear certain white noises or sounds. But is there an odor that can be classified as "white" or neutral ? This is the question that neurobiologists at the Weizmann Institute of Sciences in Israel have asked themselves. And after working with 86 unique odorous molecules in various aromatic mixtures, they have managed for the first time to obtain a neutral odor, that is to say, that the human smell values as "neither pleasant nor unpleasant".
Researchers have called the new "white smell" Laurax and, although at the moment it can only be experimented with in the laboratory, it could be used to create a true deodorant, among many other applications, as explained in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
