Welcome to the WTSA Newsroom — a global hub for sensory science, wellness, advocacy, cross-modal creativity, and the future of perception.
Our mission is to advance well-being and sensory awareness through interdisciplinary storytelling, research, advocacy, and innovation. We believe that taste and smell are not just biological senses — they are portals to memory, identity, healing, and connection.
We invite submissions from scientists, clinicians, chefs, perfumers, flavorists, technologists, artists, farmers, philosophers, and storytellers who explore the world through the senses.
Your brain processes roughly 10,000 distinct flavor compounds. You have maybe fifteen words for them.
A new sensory and behavioral science platform and the research partnership behind it are trying to close that gap.
The Drug That Quiets Your Appetite May Also Quiet Your Nose
A new study in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery (June 25, 2026) reports that adults with type 2 diabetes taking a GLP-1 receptor agonist were roughly 48% more likely to be diagnosed with a smell or taste disturbance than matched patients on a different diabetes drug. The headline number is real. So is the part most coverage buried: the absolute risk is tiny, the study can't prove cause, and a separate body of work says these same drugs sometimes sharpen the senses they're now accused of dulling. The interesting story is the contradiction, and what it tells us about where GLP-1 drugs actually act.
When Coffee Smells Like Sewage: What Parosmia Is Really Telling Us
There is a molecule called 2-furanmethanethiol. You have almost certainly smelled it without knowing its name. It is one of the compounds that makes a fresh pot of coffee smell like a fresh pot of coffee, and a single drop of it would be detectable in a swimming pool of water. For most people, it registers as roasty, warm, faintly like popcorn. For someone with parosmia, that same molecule can smell like rot, sewage, or something burning. Same chemical, same nose, a completely different verdict.
Losing sense of smell is as bad as Parkinson’s or a stroke, study finds
Loss of taste and smell has been linked with depression, but historically it has largely been treated as an inconvenience
The Mussel Problem
At a summit about the future of food, the hardest question wasn’t how to grow it. It was how to get my nephew to eat it.
WTSA’s Mindy Yang spent three days at the Menus of Change Leadership Summit at The Culinary Institute of America thinking about how we get people—especially kids—to actually want to eat these foods.
Scientists Develop First Smell Map: New Research Sheds Light on How Information Travels from Nose to Brain
Two teams of researchers looked beyond that conventional wisdom, and the results of their work, published in the latest issue of Cell, represent a major breakthrough in sensory biology and our understanding of how smell is perceived. They found that there is an orderly pattern of nasal receptors, and that order corresponds to the way the brain cells that receive olfactory signals are organized.
When Your Body Asks to Smell: Understanding Desiderosmia
People with desiderosmia want to smell certain substances urgently, repeatedly, sometimes daily, and often in ways that disrupt their daily lives. In the growing case literature, one finding stands out with remarkable consistency: when these patients are tested, their iron is almost always low.
When Fragrance Becomes Identity: What Men's Grooming Tells Us About the Future of Smell
Something is happening in men's grooming that deserves more than a trend report. It deserves a closer look at the nose.
In a recent interview with Personal Care Insights, Augusto Garzon — Global Brand VP for Axe and Dove Men+Care at Unilever — laid out a striking shift in how men relate to personal care. The men's grooming market, now valued at over $50 billion globally, is no longer defined by dark packaging and one-note "sport" scents. Men are building multi-step routines. They're exploring textures, formats, and — crucially — fragrance as a mode of self-expression. Nearly half of male consumers now actively choose male-targeted products, up from just 19% a few years ago.
I’m Wearing Perfume on Fragrance Day, Even Though I Can’t Smell It
Wearing or noticing fragrance is a deliberate act of attention, a choice to engage our sense of smell instead of filtering it out. That attention elevates the ordinary and reminds us how powerfully emotive our sense of smell can be.
Beyond Pixels and Decibels: The Last Analog Sense
In a world where everything is filtered, optimized, and accelerated, scent and taste remain the last analog senses, and it’s no coincidence we’re fixated on them now.
The Impact of Smell Disorders on Mental Health and Relationships
On Anosmia Awareness Day, February 27, 2026, psychologist Dr. Paula Hopkins presented her unique qualitative research into the social and mental health impact of having a smell disorder.
Loss of smell in over-70s indicates higher risk of stroke and heart disease
For adults over 70, a fading sense of smell may be a subtle biomarker of systemic health—particularly vascular integrity—and could help flag individuals who warrant closer cardiovascular monitoring.
When Your Favorite Scent Stops Being Special: What Science Says about the Shifting Nature of Scent
Your changing responses to scents represent sophisticated body feedback. Alliesthesia, sensory-specific satiety, interoceptive signaling, and neural adaptation work in concert to communicate what your system needs—and what it has sufficiently received.
Experimental Device Teaches Brain to “Feel” Odors: Offers Promise For People With Smell Loss
Can you “feel” an odor? Stimulation of the trigeminal system may help people with smell loss detect odors.
Call for Artists from the TBI Community
This call for artists is an unique opportunity for individuals with TBI to showcase their talent and your brain injury experience.
Understanding Phantosmia: When Your Brain Creates Smells That Aren't There
Do you smell burning when nothing's on fire? Metallic odors no one else detects? You might be experiencing phantosmia—phantom smell perception affecting 5-6% of adults.
2026 Editorial Calendar
WTSA Members are invited to share their expertise and contribute:
JANUARY — Reset the Senses
Wellness Rituals · Neuroplasticity · Recalibration
The quiet luxury of starting again.FEBRUARY — Love, Memory & Attachment
Emotion · Bonding · Memory
What we love, we remember through the senses.MARCH — Fragrance Month: The Art & Science of Scent
Perfumery · Materials · AI · Design
WTSA’s authority month.
Art meets data.APRIL — Earth, Plants & The Wonderous World of Molecules
Terroir · Plant chemistry · Regeneration
Earth Day (Apr 22) anchors this month.
All things related to sustainability.MAY — Fresh Signals
”Fresh” , “Clean” & “Green” notes · Clarity · Function
Clean sensations, cooling pathways, daily rituals.JUNE — The Social Life of Taste
Community · Hospitality · Outdoor Living
Taste as social infrastructure.JULY — Summer Pleasure
Beach · Beverages · Texture, Temperature, & Joy
Mid-year review and recalibration of trends.AUGUST — Back to School: Sensory Intelligence
Learning · Focus · Children
Smell & taste literacy as learning tools
Attention, memory, performanceSEPTEMBER — World Taste & Smell Month
Advocacy · Diagnostics · Public Health
Key moments: World Taste & Smell MonthParosmia Awareness Day: Sept 24
Early detection
Retraining & recovery
Policy, access, legitimacy
#VoicesOfExperience. Community support.
This is our impact month.OCTOBER — The Invisible Sense
Anosmia · Distortion · Lived Experience
Depth without despair. Science with dignity.
#VoicesOfExperienceNOVEMBER — Memory, Aging & Alzheimer’s
Dignity · Gratitue · Care · Aging · Prevention
Alzheimer’s Awareness MonthSmell as an early warning system. Aging deserves better design. #DeliciousForAll
DECEMBER — Holidays, Heat & What’s Next
Spice · Indulgence · Trend intelligence
Holiday foods & fragrance
Global spice, warmth, indulgence
What’s hot / what’s out (flavor, fragrance, wellness)
Reflections & Signals for 2027
Top Five Flavor and Fragrance Trends for 2026
What will be trending in Flavor and Fragrance in 2026? One expert says we’ll see the impact of GLP-1, more lip balms, and pickle flavorings.
Virtual Taste Makes Its Debut — Reality Gets a Flavor Upgrade
Scientists at Ohio State University have unveiled a bold new step toward immersive virtual reality: a device called e-Taste that makes “virtual food” — literally — tasteable.
The Sixth Taste: Inside the Fight to Rewrite Human Sensation
For more than a century, scientists have maintained that humans can taste only five basic tastes. But the real story is bigger, stranger, and far more consequential.
Support Our Work:
The World Taste & Smell Association is continuously seeking volunteers, sponsors, and partners to collaborate with us for local, digital, and regional events as we aim to further our mission. We invite you to connect with us and discover the numerous opportunities available for your involvement. Together, we can make a difference!
