The discovery paves the way for a deodorant² that becomes more powerful the hotter you are, making summer journeys on crowded trains far more pleasant.

 

People could even delay showering after playing sport, safe in the knowledge that they don’t smell unattractively sweaty.

 

The science could also be used to create sprays that are particularly good at freshening the air of damp bathrooms or sweaty changing rooms.

 

At its heart are solutions called ionic liquids. They do not have a smell themselves and can swallow up the scent³ of any chemical that is attached to them.

 

Scientists at Queen's University Belfast have developed a version that goes on to release the absorbed smell - but only when it is exposed to water.

 

When they attached a sweet perfume to an ionic liquid, the scent disappeared.

 

But when water was added to the mix, the fragrance⁴ emerged once more.

 

And the more water the researchers added, the stronger the smell, a Royal Society of Chemistry journal reports.

 

The ionic liquid can also trap and break down the chemicals behind the nasty smell of sweat - making it even more attractive to deodorant manufactures.

 

Contrary to popular belief, sweat itself is odourless.

 

Body odour occurs when bacteria feast on the sugary proteins in sweat, releasing pungent⁵ chemicals.

点击收听单词发音