The follow up/linked article at the bottom is worth a read too as it's the 'world-wide' part of it. Definitely a great read from both Sam and Shubs
30 karma · joined January 3, 2026
Plus low volume production volums and long times needed to manufacture it.
Could it be cheaper? Yeah I'm sure. But the US Gov is willing to pay for em so why drop the price?
Secondly, a friend of mine keeps (kept?) drawers full of jars with different things in them that had specific smells associated with them. In the same way someone might keep a photo album, she kept a collection of smells which would vividly recall a memory for her. To this day I still find that absolutely fascinating that she was able to do that so reliably.
The contrast of her experiences with smell vs mine was quite astounding to me and something I've thought about a lot since meeting her a few years ago.