Anyone for Pungent Jazz? 

If Nature magazine is to be believed (vol 398, page 335), a new microchip is poised to start the Olfactory Revolution.  According to the magazine, this microchip stores around 850 nanolitres  of gel, solid or liquid inside 34 delicate gold membrane chambers; when electrified, the membrane breaks down and releases the substance – and the smell.     

Originally designed to be used like little internal phamarcists for the human body, researchers are now investigating ways this new discovery could be used for entertainment; the stink of burning flesh could be added to disaster footage on TV, or the waft of utter bullshit for parliamentary broadcasts; even music could be spiced up with the reek of beer and chigguns for live albums, or the sweet whiff of Mary Jane for studio works. 

Unfortunately, the microchip is unlikely to become common until researchers do something about the rancid stench all the music and TV that is currently available already makes.

(first published in The Plunge #1, now out of print)