For some people, losing their sense of smell during COVID hasn’t just been an inconvenience. It’s completely changed their lives.

Not everyone who loses their smell gets it back. Others find their senses are mixed up, with familiar foods, scents and even people becoming disgusting. As new research shows, this has left long COVID sufferers in particular chasing certain tastes in vain, eating poorly, and struggling with the smell of friends and partners.

Supplies of some foods are being threatened by an industrial carbon dioxide shortage, linked to the current shortage of gas. The government has temporarily stepped in to get production started again, but why can’t we use some of that CO2 in the atmosphere we’re so worried about? Well, plans are afoot.

And while fax machines are a relic of the past, there’s one surprising place they’ve survived – Japan. It turns out the country’s high-tech reputation is not quite as deserved as you might think.

Rob Reddick

Commissioning Editor, COVID-19

Flotsam/Shuttestock

COVID smell loss can have profound effects on your life, from weight change to intimacy barriers

Vincent Deary, Northumbria University, Newcastle; Duika Burges Watson, Newcastle University

‘His natural odour used to make me want him; now it makes me vomit.’

AYDO8/Shutterstock

How soon could carbon capture technology solve industry CO₂ shortages?

Peter Styring, University of Sheffield

CO₂ is used in a range of industries, from food production to pharmaceuticals.

FabrikaSimf/Shutterstock

Japan’s love affair with the fax machine – a strange relic of technological fantasies

Hansun Hsiung, Durham University

Despite its cutting-edge image, Japan has a soft spot for the decidedly 20th-century machines.

Arts + Culture

Business + Economy

Health + Medicine

Science + Technology

Politics + Society

 

Featured events

Jeanette Winterson & Mark O’Connell (Manchester Literature Festival)

— The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, Manchester, M139PL, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Manchester

Manchester Festival of Climate Action

— The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, Manchester, M139PL, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Manchester

Future Directions for Urban Resilience

— Online, Zoom, Cardiff [Caerdydd GB-CRD], CF10 3BA, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — Cardiff University

2021 Research Methods e-Festival

— Online, Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Southampton

More events
 

Contact us here to have your event listed.

For sponsorship opportunities, email us here