Smell

In the congregation where I worship, there is an elderly person who sometimes smells strongly of urine. I noticed this recently, and it seems to be getting worse – so bad that a friend apologized for not sitting by us, explaining that she couldn’t stand the smell. I know that one’s sense of smell can diminish with age, and I’m almost sure that the congregant doesn’t know. I don’t know the person well enough to say anything directly, but I’m worried and wonder what, if anything, I ought to do. M.S. / Jamaica Plain Speak to one of the clergy, whomever you feel most comfortable with,...

Q. I have two glass shelves that came wrapped in shrink-wrap type plastic. Now the image of the plastic wrap remains on the glass. It won't come off with glass cleaner or with soap and water. What will clean up the glass? BRENDA, by e-mail A. Is it the image of the wrap or the wrap itself? If it is the plastic itself, soak the shelves in water overnight. If it's just the image, rub with Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. If that doesn't work, take the shelves to the dealer to see what he can do. Q. I have a white Formica ceiling in my bathroom.

When the marketing firm McCann Worldgroup surveyed thousands of young people last year about what they value most, more than half of the 16- to 22-year-olds said they would rather give up their sense of smell than their phones or laptops. Researchers presented this as an example of a particularly modern youthful attachment to technology, but it is also a sign of the persistent human disregard for the sense of smell. Plato associated smell with base urges; Aristotle wrote that "man smells poorly.

It's magic every time. A rabbit pulled out of a hat. A trick that's been around forever but that never gets old. Blue sky. Warm, sunny days. Birds chirping. The ground softening. The sweet smells of things growing, life unfurling. An old standard, a predictable perennial. But it always, always takes your breath away. "Spring, spring a wonderful thing," my daughter used to chant when she was a child, racing in from outside, mud on her shoes, the smell of spring in her hair.

“You can tell a lot about a person by reading my boyfriend’s e-mail’’ “I hate how babies on airplanes think they can outcry me’’ “For a chain of homeless shelters, Starbucks makes a damn good cup of coffee’’ “Men are like parking spots: Sometimes I drive my car into them’’ “So excited for tomorrow! In my family, we open our presents the night before the Rapture!’’ “I’m only stripping to put myself through therapy’’ “A guy can tell a girl’s into him by the way I chain him in my basement’’ “It takes a village to ride a...

Mary Orlin (aka The Wine Fashionista , had a little tutorial on the Huffington Post yesterday entitled "The six aromas you don't want to smell in your wine. " . According to the author, the post had its origin in a course T.W.F. took at the Culinary Institute of America called "The sensory analysis of wine," where students were challenged to identify not just the pleasing aromas in wine but "bad, or off aromas. " Of the six offenders, it was the very first that particularly caught my attention - and not just because it was the only adjective in a list of nouns.

Think of some of your most powerful memories, and there's likely a smell attached: the aroma of suntan lotion at the beach, the sharpness of freshly mown grass, the floral trail of your mother's perfume. "Scents are very much linked to memory," says perfumer Christophe Laudamiel. "They are linked to remembering the past but also learning from experiences. " But despite its primacy in our lives, our sense of smell is often overlooked when we record our history. We tend to connect with the past visually - we look at objects displayed in a museum, photographs in a documentary, the...

Out for a run six years ago, Molly Birnbaum was struck by a car. Recovering from surgeries to repair a broken pelvis and torn tendons, she realized the blow had also left her completely unable to smell. Then a recent college graduate and aspiring chef, Birnbaum said it was as if all the color drained out of life. Without the scent of roses, fresh bread, a spring rain, or even trash, she felt like she was living in a black and white world. Estimates are that 1-2 percent of Americans under 65 have a limited sense of smell; that percentage rises to as high as 50 percent of those over 65. And doctors...

Almost 300 elementary school students in Hamilton were redirected to a nearby school this morning after staff members smelled gas, officials said. The Hamilton fire department, which was called just after 8 a.m., said the smell was smoke caused by an electrical problem in the kitchen. "It was just before the kids got there so the buses were redirected," said Deputy Fire Chief Kenneth Brand. "The timing was actually pretty good, though, [the students] never got off the buses.

Robert Rodriguez deliberately tried to make his latest "Spy Kids" adventure a bit of a stinker. Rodriguez, who helped usher in the new age of 3-D movies with the franchise's third installment in 2003, is billing "Spy Kids: All the Time in the World" as a 4-D flick, adding scent cards so audiences can follow along on the action with their noses. Here's how it works: Viewers are given scratch-and-sniff cards with circles numbered 1 to 8. When a number appears on screen, they rub the corresponding circle on their cards, which give off a whiff matching what the...

Mayor Tom Menino hung out with Fox 25's Maria Stephanos at the Boston Flower & Garden Show's preview party on Tuesday. Yes, this shot was taken before the transformer fire that threw Back Bay into chaos. The Flower & Garden show runs through Sunday at the Seaport World Trade Center.

A fire that erupted in two Back Bay transformers Tuesday evening sent a pall of black smoke over the heart of Boston, caused widespread power outages, and compelled authorities to close subway stations, block roads, and evacuate a major hotel. Though the blaze caused structural damage only in the transformer building and no serious injuries, it paralyzed the Back Bay and South End as the evening rush hour wound to an end, forcing hotel guests to take to the streets and commuters to seek alternative ways to get home as a part of the Massachusetts Turnpike was...

When the marketing firm McCann Worldgroup surveyed thousands of young people last year about what they value most, more than half of the 16- to 22-year-olds said they would rather give up their sense of smell than their phones or laptops. Researchers presented this as an example of a particularly modern youthful attachment to technology, but it is also a sign of the persistent human disregard for the sense of smell. Plato associated smell with base urges; Aristotle wrote that "man smells poorly.

Almost 300 elementary school students in Hamilton were redirected to a nearby school this morning after staff members smelled gas, officials said. The Hamilton fire department, which was called just after 8 a.m., said the smell was smoke caused by an electrical problem in the kitchen. "It was just before the kids got there so the buses were redirected," said Deputy Fire Chief Kenneth Brand. "The timing was actually pretty good, though, [the students] never got off the buses.

A former Boston University graduate student awoke Sunday morning, hearing cries for help from neighbors at the Linden Street house that caught fire around 7 a.m., injuring seven students and displacing seven others. "It's kind of a college area, so you hear a lot of yelling and you don't really think anything," said Steve Bastin, a graduate student who completed his mathematical finance studies in December. The smell of smoke, still lingering outside the charred house on Linden Street in Allston last night, is what pulled Bastin out of his bed, across...

From sunroofs to speeding limits, batteries to bicycle accidents, we gained a number of useful insights about driving in 2011. Time again for our annual quiz: Just answer right or wrong for each question. Fifteen or more correct will nab you an A. Good luck! 1) If you run over a skunk, wash your tires with tomato juice to get rid of the smell, just as you would a sprayed dog. Answer: The popular belief that tomato juice eliminates skunk smell is … wrong! "Your nose gets tired of smelling the skunk, so when you introduce a new smell - tomato...

A fire that erupted in two Back Bay transformers Tuesday evening sent a pall of black smoke over the heart of Boston, caused widespread power outages, and compelled authorities to close subway stations, block roads, and evacuate a major hotel. Though the blaze caused structural damage only in the transformer building and no serious injuries, it paralyzed the Back Bay and South End as the evening rush hour wound to an end, forcing hotel guests to take to the streets and commuters to seek alternative ways to get home as a part of the Massachusetts Turnpike was closed to traffic.

Q. I am getting nasty smells down my chimney, like burned wood and creosote. I wonder if the downdraft is caused by the use of exhaust fans in the house. How can I stop that odor? DONALD , from Belmont A. You have a reverse chimney effect, where the air pressure in the house is lower than outside, so air plunges down the chimney, carrying the creosote and other goodies lining the chimney with it. Closing the damper won't do it, and closing off the firebox opening won't either.