Monday, 8 February 2010

Inscrutable !



Scientists in Japan have created a smoke detector for deaf people which warns them with the smell of wasabi. Boffins from Shiga University of Medical Science say they needed to come up with a way of waking deaf people if they were asleep.

The problem was that 50 percent of fire victims in Japan are elderly and often have poor hearing - meaning ringing alarms don't wake them. Professor Makoto Imai's design uses a synthesised version of wasabi which is sprayed into the air created the pungent odour. This is said to wake most sleeping people within two and a half minutes… and give them a uncontrollable craving for sushi.

Ref:

The British demanded one that smells like fish and chips, the Americans wanted one that smells like Big Macs..... Mexico wanted the chilli con carne....

3 comments:

  1. How interesting! Great post.
    ReplyDelete
  2. "The British demanded one that smells like fish and chips, the Americans wanted one that smells like Big Macs..... Mexico wanted the chilli con carne...."

    LOL, the fire alarm will have to be designed according to each international market! Actually, wasabi is pretty damn pungent to the nose, and not chili peppers. It always clears my sinuses so much whoo-hoo better than peppers. Wonder why is that?

    Ann_C
    ReplyDelete
  3. Okay, interesting, but wouldn't the smell of smoke already wake them up if this was a good idea?

    Why not use flashing lights?
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