What does the world smell like? After so long in a mask, I can barely remember | Arwa Mahdawi

The pandemic has robbed us of scent as well as touch. I ’m up for anything that gives my nose a workout, no matter how stinkyIs it possible to manufacture a functional knife out of frozen human faeces? Thanks toa study conducted by some enterprising scientists last year, we know that the answer to that niche question is “no”. Thanks to more seemingly pointless studies, we also know that chickens are superficial andprefer attractive people. And that you may have a better chance of passing a kidney stone if you sit at theback of a rollercoaster. And that it is possible toidentify a narcissist by their (bushy) eyebrows.Weird scientific studies that seem to have little practical application are one of my favourite things. There is something intellectually pure about procuring funds and diligently applying yourself to answering the sort of question a precocious five-year-old might come up with. Three cheers, then, to the boffins at the Odeuropa project, who have just wrangled a €2.8m (£2.5m) grant from the EU toidentify and recreate the smells of Europe between the 16th and early 20th centuries. Pretty soon, we will know exactly what a world with no indoor plumbing and extremely limited personal hygiene smelled like.Continue reading...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Science Research Source Type: news