Nanotech + aromatherapy = brain-boosting fragrant pencil lead

This Ain Supplio pencil lead from Pentel uses nanotechnology to release allegedly mind-expanding aromas, letting you smell your way to smartness while you scribble your meandering prose on a piece of paper. The pencil leads sell for two bucks a bag, and you can get them in three different scents, Refresh, Healing and Positive, which aromatherapists say can deeply affect you with just a few whiffs. Yeah?

The fragrance is encapsulated using nanotechnology, where microscopic bubbles containing the fragrance are blended in with the lead. When you write, the fresh fragrance pops out of those tiny nanocapsules, filling the room with sweetness and enlightenment for all within noseshot. The company says the fragrances are shelf-stable for three years unopened, two years in the plastic case you see above, and three months out in the open.

But aromatherapy? That's a great idea: Make up a word, "aromatherapy," and then build an entire industry around it. It just sounds so effective and soothing. But whether these pencil leads actually have any therapeutic value or not, it might be pleasurable to have a pleasant scent wafting about as you write your missives. Maybe someone will make an aromatherapeutic keyboard to sweeten up our skeptical and curmudgeonly Gizmodic diatribes.