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whacked_newtoday at 1:33 PM2 repliesview on HN

I guess there's going to be a perfume that breaks down 2-noneal on the market soon.

Tangentially, in my 20s I was in an audience seating and sat next to an old person. And I smelled a new kind of odor. It was displeasing, but not like body odor. I quickly realized it's an old person smell. It really just makes you think "old person". I assume there's some biological wiring in there.


Replies

bookofjoetoday at 2:03 PM

2-Nonenal was discovered to be the source of "old person smell" 25 years ago and we're still waiting:

>2-Nonenal Newly Found in Human Body Odor Tends to Increase with Aging [2001]

From the paper's abstract: "2-Nonenal, an unsaturated aldehyde with an unpleasant greasy and grassy odor, was detected only in older subjects (40 y or older).

https://www.jidonline.org/article/S0022-202X(15)41198-4/full...

complex_fir_reatoday at 2:03 PM

Already exists in soap form https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_person_smell#In_Japan

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