Interview: A nose for controversy

Dubbed “the Emperor of Scent”, biophysicist Luca Turin has stirred up a heated debate about the inner workings of our sense of smell. In the mid-1990s he revived the argument that the human nose detects the presence of a compound from its molecular vibrations rather than its shape, as most researchers believe. He has been busy piecing together evidence to support the vibrational theory, and his latest book, The Secret of Scent, chronicles his quest. Mick O’Hare talks with Turin about which smell convinced him that his theory is correct and what the future might hold for the world…