super
I'm reading a fantastic new book, thanks to the recommendation of my friend Rok and the resources of the glorious Boston Public Library.
It's called The Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman
Some cool things:
1. Albinos have a poor sense of smell.
2. The deeper the shade of the olfactor area, the keener and more acute the person's sense of smell.
3. Chanel No. 5 perfume was one of the 1st perfumes based on a completely synthetic smell (an aldehyde)
4. We only need 8 molecules of a substance to trigger an impulse in a nerve ending, but 40 nerve endings must be aroused before we SMELL something.
5. Weightlessness makes astronauts lose taste and smell in space. The absence of gravity means that molecules cannot be volatile, so few of them get into our noses deeply enough to register as odors.
6. Pungent odors are absorbed by fats. If you put an onion or cantelope in fridge with an open tub of btter, the butter will absorb the odor.
7. Children like most smells until they're old enough to be taught differently.
8. Pigs can smell truffles under 6 inches of soil.
9. Only humans sneeze with their mouth open. Sneezing also expels air at 85% the speed of sound.
10. The heredity condition of sneezing when confronted by bright like is called Autosomal Dominant Compelling Helioopthalmic Outburst (ACHOO)
11. Perfume smells the strongest just before a storm because moisture heightens our sense of smell and also because low pressure makes a volatile fluid spread even faster.
As you can tell, I'm in the "smell" portion of the senses.
More cool things later. I just have to sit and do nothing now.
It's called The Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman
Some cool things:
1. Albinos have a poor sense of smell.
2. The deeper the shade of the olfactor area, the keener and more acute the person's sense of smell.
3. Chanel No. 5 perfume was one of the 1st perfumes based on a completely synthetic smell (an aldehyde)
4. We only need 8 molecules of a substance to trigger an impulse in a nerve ending, but 40 nerve endings must be aroused before we SMELL something.
5. Weightlessness makes astronauts lose taste and smell in space. The absence of gravity means that molecules cannot be volatile, so few of them get into our noses deeply enough to register as odors.
6. Pungent odors are absorbed by fats. If you put an onion or cantelope in fridge with an open tub of btter, the butter will absorb the odor.
7. Children like most smells until they're old enough to be taught differently.
8. Pigs can smell truffles under 6 inches of soil.
9. Only humans sneeze with their mouth open. Sneezing also expels air at 85% the speed of sound.
10. The heredity condition of sneezing when confronted by bright like is called Autosomal Dominant Compelling Helioopthalmic Outburst (ACHOO)
11. Perfume smells the strongest just before a storm because moisture heightens our sense of smell and also because low pressure makes a volatile fluid spread even faster.
As you can tell, I'm in the "smell" portion of the senses.
More cool things later. I just have to sit and do nothing now.