Do scents have colors?

What color do you think of when you think of your favorite perfume? Or when you think of burnt paper? Or a cream cake? Visual comparison of aromas A team of scientists from the University of Illinois has developed a way to visually compare aromas using specially developed inks. Led by Kenneth Suslick, the researchers used tiny squares of polymer film loaded with 36 droplets of carefully designed dyes. These pigments change color when exposed to different chemical compounds. The resulting system offers a low-cost way to detect very low concentrations of gaseous compounds. It could be used to warn laboratory workers about exposure to toxic gases. Detecting differences in complex aromas Suslick's system allows people to detect subtle differences in complex aromas, such as coffee. Given that this process would associate color with any scent, it would be interesting to see how it performs the opposite task. For example, what would Monet's paintings smell like if translated into scent?