nucleus-magazin

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Da der Ursprungstext auf Englisch, ist es das Referat nun auch. :-)
Voilà:

The Emperor of Scent,
A true story of perfume and obsession, by Chandler Burr

Division into two parts:
Creation and War:
C: Luca Turin`s - creating and following of a new idea of smell, opposite to common “belief” in shape &
W: the disregard of the new theory by fellow scientists, Turin`s struggle for audience and recognition

Burr starts off by stating:
“...despite..”
He lists all the efforts being made by scientists to discover the secrets of how smell is sensed.
Concludes:
“..the exact way we smell things...remains a mystery...”

Burr`s thesis:
“We actually shouldn`t be able to smell at all.”
He explains it by referring to two central functions of the human body: digestion and the immune system, pointing out their opposite way to tackle their tasks:
Digestion: - works by the enzym`s recognition of the molecular counterpart,
- “fixed genetic library of enzymes...deal with a fixed list of molecules” - enzymes “take off” instantly to identify the molecule to be cracked
Immune System: - fighting the intruders by creating antibodies that fit its shape
- this process takes time
- able to create the needed key to destroy the virus (unlimited editions)
Smell is instant and unlimited:
Smell vibrates.
Burr`s motivation is to shed a light on the formation of an idea, its verification, presentation and its creator`s fight for acknowledgement.
His conclusion (p. 228): “The response to Luca Turin`s controversial theory embodies the failure of the scientific process, both as an ideal and in the day-to-day functioning of prestigious scientific organizations.....”, (p. 232) “..almost none of the critics of Turin`s Vibtarion paper ever actually read it..”
A friend of Mr Burr puts it this way:
(p. 304) “Science is turning into a command economy.”
Philosopher Feyerabend: “There can be no government.”
Some remarkable statements by Turin:
- “Smell is not more subjective than colour or sound”
- big perfume companies work at random: (p. 265): “..It`s manifest..from the way they work that they don`t have a theory of odor.”
- (p. 267): Push fragrance chemists to the wall and they`ll tell you, `...there`s one structure-odor relationship which is totally solid.......”
- “Another wonderful example of the lack of relationship..between shape and smell is the converse phenomenon: a series of very similarly shaped molecules with very different smells.”
- (p. 274): “..an odor...depends not on a single wave number but on the exact relative amplitudes of all the peaks..”
- (p. 304): “..there is no such thing as disconnected facts..”


Some remarkable facts:
- Theory of Shape: the nose uses a molecule`s shape to identify the smell &
molecules with similar shape should carry similar information
- the Shapists aren`t hindered by unexplained question marks in their work like same smell but different shape (Osyrol example), building up the Weak-Shape theory instead:
this theory has its weak sides though......such as no predictive power
- Weak-Shape theory: smell receptors binding to parts of the molecule`s shape
- a (p. 273) molecule`s shape is ..going to determine how it will be gripped by the receptor;
its vibrations are what contain its smell information
- Turin`s theory has its origin in M. Dyson`s thoughts on the human nose, housing a “spectroscope” (1938),
- all molecules pulse with vibration
- commonly smellable molecules are built of: Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen and Sulfur atoms
- electron bonds are elastic, being pulled apart and released, they start off to vibrate, having its own wave number (0 to 4000) as a solid means of identification
- one atom = one note, one molecule = one chord
- the human nose can identify single atoms as well as a spectroscope can
- Smelling`s paradox about instancy and infinity was seen as a mystery because of the implemented limitations by the shape theory
- proteins can carry electrons and thereby conduct electricity, proteins serve as receptors
in the nose
- the electron – tunneling spectroscope a prove to Turin`s theory
- smell is not about sex, but about food and protection



Links you might find interesting:

http://www.olfactoryart.net/

http://travel.usatoday.com/destinations/2010-12-31-museum-art-design-art-of-scent_N.htm

http://www.madmuseum.org/

from chemistry to religion:
http://www.arkdiscovery.com/sodom_&_gomorrah.htm