AFSCME 3357-HOF'S BLOG

Smart Scientists:
Rove vs. Rover - the Sniff Test is a Dead Heat

A group of scientists lead by Noam Sobel at the University of California, Berkley have been conducting experiments to see if humans can smell as well as dogs. Note: I said WELL and not GOOD, "well" being the adverb, and "good" being the adjective. Dr. Sobel believes that the human sense of smell is under-rated, and with a little training people can top their canine companions. Here's a description of the experiment as described at Dailyindia.com


As a part of the study the boffins first laid down a 10-metre-long trail of chocolate essential oil in a grass field.

They then blindfolded 32 Berkeley undergraduates, blocked their ears and set them loose in the field to try to track the scent. Each student got three chances to track the scent in ten minutes.
Because it's posted at dailyindia.com, the story has to be true. I don't know what excites me more, the fact that I might be able to read the daily fireplug news with my beagle, or the thought that Berkley students (who will soon be making double my salary)had to get down on all fours and sniff the ground blindfolded to pass Psychology class.