What’s that smell? It might just be the next big thing in travel.

Reconstructing scents from the past isn’t easy. To create the “Follow Your Nose” exhibit in 2022, Museum Ulm partnered with  Odeuropa , a project that’s developing new methods—including artificial intelligence and sensory mining tools—to identify and preserve  Europe ’s heritage

smells.

Scent is the only sense that is directly linked to the memory and emotional learning centers of the brain, says  Rachel Herz , a neuroscientist at Brown University and an expert on the psychological science of smell. 

Due to climate change, some scents—and the stories attached to them—are at risk of being lost.