Using artificial intelligence to smell the roses
"We now can use artificial intelligence to predict how any chemical is going to smell to humans," said Anandasankar Ray, a molecular biologist and senior author of a study that appears in iScience. "Chemicals that are toxic or harsh in, say, flavors, cosmetics, or household products can be replaced with natural, softer, and safer chemicals."
Humans sense odors when some of their nearly 400 odorant receptors, or ORs, are activated in the nose. Each OR is activated by a unique set of chemicals; together, the large OR family can detect a vast chemical space. A key question in olfaction is how the receptors contribute to different perceptual qualities, or percepts.
See the full story with a link to the original study here: https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=300998&fbclid=IwAR18FC7980hwRe-wrRI7Aor4rlp_2FEKMIkge95NLl9JYdS5H9GxWFWQs9Q