Electronic noses (eNoses) are typically tuned to identify particular odorants, ranging from "cocaine" to "spoiled milk". In contrast, here an eNose was tuned to the perceptual axis of odorant pleasantness, i.e., an axis ranging from very pleasant (e.g., rose) to very unpleasant (e.g., skunk). This allowed the eNose to then smell novel odorants it never encountered before, yet still generate odor pleasantness estimates in high agreement with human assessments regardless of the subject's cultural background. This suggests an innate component of odorant pleasantness that is tightly linked to molecular structure (see Haddad et al., doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000740).
Image Credit: Genia Brodsky and Noam Sobel (The Weizmann Institute)
Perspective
PLoS Computational Biology Conference Postcards from PSB 2010
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 29, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000746
Research Articles
Evolutionary Establishment of Moral and Double Moral Standards through Spatial Interactions
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 29, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000758
How Informative Are Spatial CA3 Representations Established by the Dentate Gyrus?
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 29, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000759
Robustness under Functional Constraint: The Genetic Network for Temporal Expression in Drosophila Neurogenesis
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 29, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000760
Learning “graph-mer” Motifs that Predict Gene Expression Trajectories in Development
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 29, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000761
Asymmetric Switching in a Homodimeric ABC Transporter: A Simulation Study
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 29, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000762
Neighbor-Dependent Ramachandran Probability Distributions of Amino Acids Developed from a Hierarchical Dirichlet Process Model
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 29, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000763
A Critical Quantity for Noise Attenuation in Feedback Systems
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 29, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000764
The Brain's Router: A Cortical Network Model of Serial Processing in the Primate Brain
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 29, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000765
Accurately Measuring Recombination between Closely Related HIV-1 Genomes
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 29, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000766
A New Approach for Determining Phase Response Curves Reveals that Purkinje Cells Can Act as Perfect Integrators
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 29, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000768
Polyglutamine Induced Misfolding of Huntingtin Exon1 is Modulated by the Flanking Sequences
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 29, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000772
A Quantitative Model of Transcriptional Regulation Reveals the Influence of Binding Location on Expression
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 29, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000773
Charge as a Selection Criterion for Translocation through the Nuclear Pore Complex
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 22, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000747
Efficient Physical Embedding of Topologically Complex Information Processing Networks in Brains and Computer Circuits
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 22, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000748
A Reaction-Diffusion Model of Human Brain Development
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 22, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000749
Structural Characteristics of Novel Protein Folds
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 22, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000750
Coordinate Dependence of Variability Analysis
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 22, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000751
Accurate Distinction of Pathogenic from Benign CNVs in Mental Retardation
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 22, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000752
Ion Channel Density Regulates Switches between Regular and Fast Spiking in Soma but Not in Axons
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 22, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000753
Vertical Binocular Disparity is Encoded Implicitly within a Model Neuronal Population Tuned to Horizontal Disparity and Orientation
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 22, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000754
Simulating Microdosimetry in a Virtual Hepatic Lobule
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 22, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000756
Independent Component Analysis in Spiking Neurons
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 22, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000757
Global Entrainment of Transcriptional Systems to Periodic Inputs
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 15, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000739
Predicting Odor Pleasantness with an Electronic Nose
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 15, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000740
Flow-Based Cytometric Analysis of Cell Cycle via Simulated Cell Populations
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 15, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000741
Simultaneous Clustering of Multiple Gene Expression and Physical Interaction Datasets
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 15, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000742
Prediction of Co-Receptor Usage of HIV-1 from Genotype
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 15, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000743
OptForce: An Optimization Procedure for Identifying All Genetic Manipulations Leading to Targeted Overproductions
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 15, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000744
A Multi-Variant, Viral Dynamic Model of Genotype 1 HCV to Assess the in vivo Evolution of Protease-Inhibitor Resistant Variants
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 15, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000745
Quantitative Modeling of Escherichia coli Chemotactic Motion in Environments Varying in Space and Time
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 8, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000735
Dynamics and Control of Diseases in Networks with Community Structure
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 8, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000736
New Insights into the Genetic Control of Gene Expression using a Bayesian Multi-tissue Approach
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 8, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000737
On the Conservation of the Slow Conformational Dynamics within the Amino Acid Kinase Family: NAGK the Paradigm
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 8, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000738
Quantifying Aggregated Uncertainty in Plasmodium falciparum Malaria Prevalence and Populations at Risk via Efficient Space-Time Geostatistical Joint Simulation
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 1, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000724
Signatures of Arithmetic Simplicity in Metabolic Network Architecture
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 1, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000725
The Origins of Time-Delay in Template Biopolymerization Processes
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 1, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000726
Accuracy of Protein-Protein Binding Sites in High-Throughput Template-Based Modeling
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 1, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000727
Somitogenesis Clock-Wave Initiation Requires Differential Decay and Multiple Binding Sites for Clock Protein
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 1, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000728
Metabolic Network Topology Reveals Transcriptional Regulatory Signatures of Type 2 Diabetes
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 1, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000729
Network Modeling Identifies Molecular Functions Targeted by miR-204 to Suppress Head and Neck Tumor Metastasis
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 1, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000730
A Stevedore's Protein Knot
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 1, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000731
Why Genes Evolve Faster on Secondary Chromosomes in Bacteria
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 1, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000732
Genome-Wide Modeling of Transcription Preinitiation Complex Disassembly Mechanisms using ChIP-chip Data
PLOS Computational Biology: published April 1, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000733