Can we register and save smell or transmit it in long distances like we can register, save and transmit sounds or videos?

Good luck creating such a device.

Would be great.

What you are smelling are actual molecules.

So no. We transmit light and sound by encoding them into patterns of electric currents, and then having a device on the other end that turns those patterns back into light and sound. Light and sound are easy to make. Producing molecules for smell? We aren’t quite there yet.

I can’t find any research about that. It is tough because of what smells are made of: molecules in the air.

Welcome to Fluther.

Of course we can transmit the particles that cause the smells; we do it all the time. Food and other product managers depend on it for the continuation of their businesses: soaps, lotions, medicines and of course fragrances themselves.

That is “they can be sent”. If you’re asking “can they be transmitted electronically”, then no, I don’t expect that will ever be possible unless we do it in a “virtual” way by sending virtual sensory inputs to people’s brains. The reason is, as @Qingu pointed out, that smells are carried by the physical presence and impingement on our sense organs of actual molecules. No molecule transmittal by air or other medium means no smell. For now, anyway.

Given the way humans love to mess with their brains, I have no doubt in the world that people will continue to experiment in both “officially sanctioned” and various extemporaneous and informal means to attempt to mimic the way that we sense and record “smell” and try to do it electronically. Maybe someday.

I hope it never comes to be. I don’t want to have to stop watching animal planet because they are doing a program on skunks. And I like to watch Dirtiest Jobs, but wouldn’t do it if I knew the smell would be transmitted too.

I am sure there is someone somewhere that is working on the technology to make this happen.

Yep

Well, we do save scent-generating substances in bottles and have been doing that for thousands of years.

That seems to me to be a clear parallel of saving images through graphic representation and sound recording: we save a physical object to which we respond with our visual or auditory sense, rather than storing the perception directly.

I think we will find a way to transmit touch electronically before we solve the enigma of olfactory and gustatory transmission.

Wouldn’t that be cool? In the movie industry, it’s been at least an experimental concept for a long time. Done correctly, it could have as much of an impact as Dolby sound or HD video have had. (Having a good sensitive “kill” button to hand for certain scenes like “Dirty Jobs” or when Mr. Skunk comes visiting would be good, too! LOL)