A fire alarm for the hearing imapired:

Wake up and smell the wasabi.Japan has developed a smoke detector for deaf people that is based on the pungent smell of Japan’s spicy green horseradish,an eye-watering condiment more typically found tucked under fish in a piece of sushi.If it detects smoke,the alarm sprays out a synthesized wasabi smell that wakes up people  who might have slept through a conventional fire alarm.Assistant professor Makoto Imai from the Shiga University of Medical Science,who built the alarm in collaboration with Seems,a company that makes perfume,says the smoke detector may save lives among the hard of hearing."The proportion of the elderly among fire victims was nearly 50%.So,Seems……thought that the decline of hearing ability may be one of the causes for dealy in noticing and getting away when a fire breaks wout," he said.