The sour smell of success

Manach

In this weeks New Scientist is a feature on how the US military (who else) are developing stink bombs. Only these are tailored to induce terror and nausea. Volunteers were screaming in panic after a few moments exposure. In the Future, War is Smell.

Greenbean

Sounds awful. I can imagine quite a few court cases and phsyciatrist bills coming out of that one.

Lucy_la_morte

Well it certainly beats pepper spray.. Last I was exposed to that I spent the next few days coughing up blood, I don't mind screaming in panic.. I do that anyway

---

It's just a tail, but I'm sort of attached to it.

Lucy la morte.

DadaKopf

Yeah, I saw stuff about that a year or so ago. There's a whole science of stinkology - it's actually physically impossible to withstand certain smells (that generally appropriate the smell of rotting flesh) and it effectively disperses crowds.

So, if any of you have found the stinkiest smell known to humanity, email info@fbi.com

Bob the Unlucky Octopus

Errr...Dadakopf- the sensory response of the smell itself isn't enough to cause physical harm- having spent an obligatory period of time doing cadaver dissection, I can testify to that. Chemotaxic odor molecules that have the potential to cause physiological change are generally what people refer to as "harmful smells".

I've been exposed to tear gas before- and it's not the "smell" of it that caused my eyes to water, it was a lacrimomimetic compound in the gas. Smells are generated by chemicals upon which a fluid has coalesced- they're not some magical little sensory molecules the way several popular science cartoons make out.

Of course Dada was probably being sarcastic, but taking him seriously can be fun

Bob the Unlucky Octopus
=Mortis Entritus Est=

DadaKopf

Ok, grand. Of course smells are chemicals, compounds etc. And of course smells are smells but the impression I got off this programme was that the human body, due to pure instinct, can't stand the stench of rotting meat through instinctual suggestion. This knee-jerk reaction causes debilitating physiological reactions but since you know even bigger words than me, you win.

But seriously, if anyone finds a really smelly smell, I wanna know about it. I don't think anything's worse than my feet!

Bob the Unlucky Octopus

Well- you've got a point there- but I'd hardly call retching/vomiting debilitating. Nausea, dizziness, fatigue are other things that are induced by short-term exposure to an unpleasant smell. The instinctual response probably derives from the fact that evolutionarily speaking we were never meant to eat meat- we don't have the digestive system suited to it, nor do we have the immunoenzymes to cope with it in the long run. There is also the possibility that rotting meat is unpalatable, and the olfactory response is a safety mechanism to stop us eating or even going near the meat.

That's not the whole story- as rotting plantlife produces nowhere near as emphatic a response. All in all, very interesting stuff

Btw Dadakopf- if you want a horrible horrible smell- ask a kindly chemist to make you up some hydrogen sulfide- H2S (imagine the "2" is subscripted) and then have a whiff. You won't be disappointed

Bob the Unlucky Octopus
=Legerum Humanitarus Mentis=

DemonBaby

I also read the article in new scientist.
One interesting point is the fact that different ethnic groups react differently to a particular smell.
One smell which people from the US found disgusting was found pleasant in S.E asia.
The one smell all the study groups found offensive was that of Faecal matter mixed with some other chemicals (forget which).
But no smell has been found yet to make people actually turn around and run way in fear...but there are still looking for it.
Nemesis/DemonBaby

DadaKopf

Yeah Bob, the smells are so bad that the body or brain just can't stand it - it's some unstoppable kneejerk reaction.

Basically, they put hundreds of test samples into suits like space suits and pumped them full of the smells until they couldnt stand them no more. They were's poisoned, it just slowed them down, fatigued them and felt nauseous. In any riot situation, arrests would be easier. It's all very interesting stuff.

Also, it seems to be the same on a cross-cultural basis (certain concepts of smell/hygene) - eg. the Durian fruit smells like rotten flesh but is a delicacy etc. Nope, whatever the compound, it works on everyone!