LAS VEGAS, Jan. 8 — Immersive technologies that can improve lives, whether it’s helping people treat dementia or learning to fly fighter jets, are the future of the metaverse, virtual reality startups say.

Some entrepreneurs at the annual CES gadget festival that ends today in Las Vegas were eager to combine real and virtual worlds to help people stop and smell the roses.

OVR Technology has created a VR headset accessory that invites users around a fake campfire to puffs of smoke and toasted marshmallows.

Smell is essential to the metaverse, said OVR Vice President Sarah Socia, because it is “the only sense that is directly connected to the limbic system, a part of the brain crucial for memory and emotion.”

Sarah Socia of OVR Technology shows the aroma cartridge of…