Why does rain smell?
I hope you all enjoyed the episode last week about lobsters. I really, really loved that episode. It got me so excited. And we have some really cute pictures that some of our listeners have sent of lobster scientists that made me so happy. So I'll be posting those coming up on social media.
Melissa:So for this week, we're going to be back on our rebroadcast schedule, and I'm really excited. We're going to rebroadcast our episode about what is rain smell because it's April. It's been raining a lot. But also, Jam already knows this. We already record this.
Melissa:It's not a spoiler. Next week. We're gonna be talking about the chemistry of tears. So it's a little bit like we're talking about the earth tears, and then next week, we're gonna talk about human tears.
Jam:Yes. Yeah. It's perfect. And this one's one of those that, like, this episode is just far enough back where if you hadn't heard It haven't like you've we've all wondered about Rain Smell. You could easily have missed this episode, and you we don't want you to.
Jam:So bright cool prep for then talking about our human tears next week.
Melissa:Yes. So we're pretty excited about rebroadcasting this episode. And, hopefully, the next time you get an April shower, you can think about what that nice rain smell is.
Jam:Enjoy. We'll see you guys next week.
Melissa:See you next week.
Melissa:Hey. I'm Melissa.
Jam:And I'm Jam.
Melissa:And I'm a chemist.
Jam:And I'm still not.
Melissa:Should I say, I'm still a chemist?
Jam:There we go.
Melissa:And welcome to chemistry for your life.
Jam:The podcast helps you understand the chemistry of your everyday life.
Melissa:I can't really unbecome a chemist. Like, once it's in your mind to think about things that way, it'll never change.
Jam:Right. Right. Right. And it does kind of Bring to mind, like, what is it that qualifies you as a chemist? Like, what is the one thing that makes you one, and can that be taken away from you?
Jam:Kinda not.
Melissa:There's a whole Right. Area of research about what's known as stem identity and when different people feel comfortable calling themselves, like, a physicist, a mathematician, a chemist.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And it's pretty interesting.
Jam:That is interesting.
Melissa:So I did did not and still don't feel super comfortable calling myself a chemist, but having to say it on the podcast every single week really made me, you know, embrace that part of my identity.
Jam:Yeah. And I think it it shouldn't be that hard to say only because I'm thinking, like, you're definitely a chemist. Like, you are 1, but It doesn't imply like, someone just saying I'm a chemist doesn't imply that they're a good one necessarily.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:It's kinda like me just saying, I'm what am I? What's the thing I could say?
Melissa:You're a videographer.
Jam:Right. If I say that, it doesn't really like, I can say it and not really be promising a lot about How good I am.
Melissa:You know
Jam:what I mean? It's just so, like, here's what I do.
Melissa:So what? This is a good opportunity to remind everyone that just because I'm considered an expert, have a master's degree. I'm qualified to talk about organic chemistry. That doesn't mean I know everything. That doesn't mean I'm never gonna make mistakes.
Melissa:I'm very open to feedback. Uh-huh. If I make a mistake or miscommunicate something, I wanna know
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:So that we can address it on the show. I don't ever wanna spread misinformation. I'm always open to hearing more, learning more, learning deeper on the show so that I can share it with more people. There's a quote that I quoted at the very, very beginning of doing this show about how being a chemist really or an expert of any kind really doesn't mean you know everything. It means you know even more about what you don't know.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:I think that's so important for people who are pursuing further education.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. That's really good.
Melissa:Good reminder to throw out there.
Jam:Yeah. And it's, like, it's also good to know because you're not you're still like us. Like, you're still human like we are.
Melissa:Oh, yeah. Even though you're
Jam:a chemist, you're it's not like you've achieved, like, this enlightenment that that we can never achieve. Like, you can still relate to our problems and stuff. Right?
Melissa:Well, I mean, I am better than you.
Jam:Right. Right. But, like, you can still relate is what I'm saying.
Melissa:Considerate even though, you know, I don't ever have normal people problems.
Jam:You're right. You're right. Gosh. So cool.
Melissa:I do tend to think that how much I know about chemistry, that's how much every person knows about their field. So there's so so much to know. This is just my area that I've dug really deep into.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:Good, good segue, good reminder there. So do you wanna know what we're gonna talk about today?
Jam:More than anything in the world.
Melissa:I'm so excited. We're gonna talk about oft requested, oft brought up to me, smells. Smells. The chemistry of smells.
Jam:Oft requested. There's a pun there with
Melissa:Waft.
Jam:Off waft olfactory. Awesome photos. Olfactory Waft.
Melissa:Topic. Waft requested.
Jam:Wafting right into the podcast today is the topic of smells.
Melissa:So we're gonna talk about the mechanism of smell. Just in general, how do you smell?
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Then we're gonna talk about why different people enjoy the taste and smell of different things.
Jam:Oh, okay. Interesting.
Melissa:And then we're gonna talk about the smell of something very familiar.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Rain smell.
Jam:Oh.
Melissa:Rain smell.
Jam:I've always wondered about that. I mean, I've really always wondered about all smells, so I'm really, Really super excited about this topic. I just have no idea how it works.
Melissa:Well, let's talk about it. How do we smell things? How does smell work? 1st, it's important to smells that you have odorous molecules that have vaporized into the air. Mhmm.
Melissa:So, basically, airborne molecules, gaseous molecules that have that will hit our olfactory receptors.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Olfactory just means sense of smell.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And those will then send signals to our brains.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:So a a molecule that's vaporized, turned into a gas, travels through the air, hits these receptors, and then that activates the whole process by which smells are transmitted to our brain. So that sounds simple.
Jam:Yeah. It sounds simple, but, also, I have, like, a question about every single one of those steps.
Melissa:Well, before you ask me, I wanna tell you that most of this mechanism was elucidated and explained in around 1991. That's not very long ago.
Jam:Yeah. It's not.
Melissa:I'm I was born Mhmm. In 1991. Yeah. So they've only discovered this roughly in my lifetime.
Jam:Yeah. That's crazy.
Melissa:Which is insane. Humans have been around for so long. Yeah. The atomic bomb was around before we understood smell very well. Yeah.
Melissa:Amazing.
Jam:That is what the heck?
Melissa:I know.
Jam:But I also get it
Melissa:how that kinda sunk in. Yeah.
Jam:I also get it, though, because there are so many things that I'm sure, like, We can make hypotheses and kind of Mhmm. Test out a little. But, like, what are you gonna do? Like, take a That body and, like, look inside the nose. Like, what can you really discover about that?
Jam:Right. How much can really be observed? Is it is I I mean, just similar to the brain, I guess. Like, what can we really know Right. Like, about what's going where in the brain?
Jam:It's, like, it's all we're just scratching the surface
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:Of all this stuff. So I get it, and I'm glad that I'm not the one who has to figure it out. But I do really wanna know all that there is to know.
Melissa:Well, the people who figured it out, it's 2 scientists, somebody named Richard Axel and Linda Buck, so woman in STEM. Woo hoo.
Jam:Hey o.
Melissa:And they received a Nobel Prize for their work in the field of physiology and medicine. So a lot of that part Uh-huh. The activation of the what's going on in your brain is in the field of physiology and medicine, and it was kind of hard for me to track. Right. So I described to you the very, very, very basics.
Melissa:It's way more complicated than that. Mhmm. But what they discovered and what I think is a really big deal is that there are genes that give rise, that are responsible for our olfactory sensors.
Jam:Oh.
Melissa:So the things in our nose that sense smells Uh-huh. And send those signals are as a result of our genetics.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And several of those olfactory sensors can, you know, be combined for you to recognize the overall smell of something
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Which is amazing.
Jam:That makes sense that it's genetic. I hadn't thought about that, but, like, Even just fact that like, I remember my brother had a friend in high school who was nose blind or nose deaf or whatever you call it.
Melissa:He couldn't smell at all.
Jam:Yeah. She she couldn't.
Melissa:Oh, she?
Jam:Yeah. But it was like her one of her parents also couldn't. So it's like I don't know if it's always that way, but obviously would increase the chances.
Melissa:Right?
Jam:If that's possible, genetic wise, it makes sense that even some of the other, like, specifics about smelling could also be passed down.
Melissa:Right. And that was the next thing I was gonna say.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:If genes are responsible for your smell receptors, that means that genetics play into how we smell different
Jam:things. Mhmm.
Melissa:So our genetics can predetermine how sensitive we are to certain smells, if we even have certain small receptors or don't, that all plays into the way you experience the world.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Isn't that insane? Yeah. And so that is possibly why some people like the smell or don't like the smell of different things or even tastes have a lot to do with smells Uh-huh. Is because of the genetics if your olfactory receptors could be different, so you find things less intense or more intense in a way that's pleasing to you.
Jam:Woah.
Melissa:So your genes are part of why you like the way things smell.
Jam:That is very, very interesting.
Melissa:Mind blowing. Right? What? I just thought I liked things or didn't. I didn't even think about my genetics, what was going on inside my nose, or why I would like things or didn't.
Jam:Yeah. Gosh.
Melissa:I know. Mind blowing.
Jam:So here's a question. Well, maybe this isn't something you can answer, but I also have I feel like have had situations where a smell has really grown on me. I form associations with it in my own lifetime, and then I grow to like it a lot and also be able to pick it out better. Like Yeah. Are those Omos Aqua Cookies?
Jam:Like like, I have grown to love it In my lifetime, and I can smell it and tell the smell.
Melissa:So like I said, I had a hard time assessing out a lot of the more technical language.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:But one of the articles about the original printed article Mhmm. Said that their work also elucidated why smell can be tied to memory.
Jam:Oh, got it.
Melissa:And a totally different article I read said that smells that are more common or maybe in larger doses. I was a little confused on the language. Can almost commandeer other olfactory receptors
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:So they can take over more. I don't know if that was temporary or permanent, and the article that it was linked to was blocked. I couldn't access it.
Jam:Oh, interesting.
Melissa:So I think it's possible that if you're exposed to something a lot, your olfactory sensors might maybe change over time. Mhmm. Mhmm. Mhmm. And it's also possible that something is going on in that link to memory, but I was I didn't have a clear picture on the their research on how spells are linked to memory.
Jam:Got it.
Melissa:So maybe I'll get smarter in the area of physiology and medicine and dig in and be able to talk about that more.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Or if you're already listeners at home, smart and good in that area, go check out the work of doctor Axel and doctor Buck for their Nobel Prize, you'll be able to learn more about it.
Jam:Yeah. Thanks. So cool.
Melissa:So cool. And they also said in one of the articles that I read that we have 800 olfactory receptors, but it's possible only around 400 of those are active. And 400 are responsible for most of the smells we experienced. Uh-huh. So that also could play into you being able to detect it better and enjoying it more.
Jam:Yeah. But I bet it
Melissa:also has a lot to do with your brain.
Jam:Yeah. Gosh. So complicated.
Melissa:Yeah. The human body is very complicated. It was very hard to put together everything for this episode. Yeah. Okay.
Melissa:So that's the basics of smells.
Jam:And that's the the human part, the part that I mean, you already said some of the about the molecules or whatever. But, like Mhmm. A lot of that was the Part that our nose and our receptors and our brain's doing. Is there more on the, like, chemistry side?
Melissa:Well, it is important that molecules are vaporized.
Jam:Okay. Okay.
Melissa:And then, essentially, the molecule will act as it's referred to often in the papers as a ligand, which basically just means something that attaches to something else. That's the best way I can describe it. So it'll come in and basically fit in. Mhmm. Just like we talked about sugar in the what makes artificial
Jam:sweeteners sweet. Mhmm.
Melissa:It'll lock into the receptor and start to send those signals. Mhmm. One paper I read indicated that different molecules that were similar could be detected by the same olfactory receptor.
Jam:Interesting.
Melissa:So do you have any other questions on that?
Jam:I don't know.
Melissa:This is a good opportunity for those of you listening. If you have questions, just go ahead. Not if you're driving. Pull out your phone And write them down and send them in so that we can answer them in our next q and r.
Jam:I think some some of the questions that come to mind are maybe ones that are like, but how? You know? Which might not be that helpful. But I'm just a little bit like, so everything has, like or all things you can smell has some sort of Vapor molecule coming off of it? Yes.
Jam:And that's, like, plum kinda blow my mind. Because I'm like, okay. So that means if we could see smell, like, put on some Magic goggles and see some smells. We would be seeing them everywhere. Like, think about dust.
Melissa:We're gonna talk about that.
Jam:Oh, okay.
Melissa:No. But you can keep going, but we'll talk about it more.
Jam:Okay. Or like this coffee I have right here. Like, would there just be, like, a plume of smells coming off of it?
Melissa:It's more That
Jam:kinda stuff.
Melissa:Like, if you had, you could zoom into a molecular level. There would be coffee molecules in the air that will come in lock in. And it's possible that I mean, I know for a fact that coffee is made up of a lot of different molecules. Uh-huh. So all those different molecules will hit your olfactory receptors, And those will send signals, which will be combined in your brain to say coffee.
Jam:Yeah. And so so many coffees are so different too. That's kinda crazy that we can't I mean, it's kinda crazy that, like, we're not just, like, ding, coffee. It's more like, Ding, good coffee. Ding, bad coffee.
Jam:Ding. Like, we have all kinds of or, like, this kinda cookie. This kinda cookie. Like, it's pretty incredible how many, Like, smells we can smell.
Melissa:Yeah. And how many molecules are in those things Mhmm.
Jam:That
Melissa:you're smelling cookies, coffee, whatever, that then you have your genetics have designed or your genetics have accounted for the ability for your nose to take in all those molecules into their receptors and then be able to signal that to your brain.
Jam:Yeah. Gosh.
Melissa:Isn't that amazing? Yeah. I'm getting
Jam:a little overwhelmed.
Melissa:Well, don't get overwhelmed
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Because I have a fun thing to sort of wrap it up for you to help you visualize it.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Also, next week, we're gonna talk about it even more.
Jam:So this is kinda just the beginning of smells?
Melissa:This is part 1. Next week, we're gonna do part 2. And then as I'm sure people will ask more questions, I can take those and dig into individual things, and we can do later parts way later.
Jam:Oh, man. I'm excited. Seems like yeah. That makes sense, though. There would be so many things.
Jam:Like, we couldn't cover
Melissa:So many things.
Jam:All the smells in one deal.
Melissa:I almost made this a 3 part intro. Yeah. But I decided to take it down to 2. Also, I forgot to mention to illustrate the idea of the people with different genetics having different awarenesses of different smells. Uh-huh.
Melissa:American Chemical Society made a video where different people tried the fruit, durian.
Jam:Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:And we'll talk more about durian and why people respond to it so strongly, but people can have very strong negative reactions. Uh-huh. And 1 person they had a side by side video, and 1 person on one side was just eating the fruit and, like, yeah. No big deal. And the other person on the other side was eating it and gagging.
Melissa:And they're like, genetics at work.
Jam:Oh, wow.
Melissa:That's crazy. Crazy. Yeah. So I thought that was a good representation of that.
Jam:Okay. Yeah. Man, I've heard so many things about that fruit. I'm, like, kinda scared to experience it.
Melissa:Well, I don't wanna experience it, son. Okay. So rain smell.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:I really love the smell after a nice light rain that gives especially in the summer Mhmm. Gives that good feeling when you walk outside.
Jam:Yes.
Melissa:That is rain smell.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:And some scientists have looked into why you get that smell after a dry rain.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And they named that smell petrichor.
Jam:Oh, yeah. I've heard that word before.
Melissa:I've heard that word before too, but what I didn't know is they discovered an oil. It was by Isabelle Bear and Richard Thomas, 2 chemists. Mhmm. Isabelle Bear, woman in STEM. Woo.
Melissa:It's the episode of women in STEM today
Jam:Yeah. It is.
Melissa:In history.
Jam:Why don't you say woo every time there's a woman in STEM, and I'll just say, hey o.
Melissa:Okay. Great.
Jam:Do like a little, like
Melissa:Our thing.
Jam:Almost like you say woman to stem, I say, hey o. Woman to stem,
Melissa:hey o. Alright. Okay. So in warm, dry rocks toxin soil. You can find this oil, and they call that oil also petrichor.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:It's made primarily of 2 different types fatty acids that occur from plants and bacteria.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And those fatty acids don't really have a strong smell.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:But they break down into smaller molecules that are easier to vaporize and that are known for having pretty good ability to vaporize and make smells. Okay. They're smellier compounds. Not necessarily bad, but they just have more of a smell. So and that's just a natural chemical that happens over time.
Melissa:Smaller, more aromatic compounds. Aromatic in the non chemistry word for those of you who are chemistry students.
Jam:Yeah. I was gonna say I've heard, but it means something different in chemistry?
Melissa:Yeah. We don't have to talk about it. We can talk about it later. Alright. So on an interesting side note
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:They looked into why these plants secrete these oils, this petrichor oil, and they thought initially maybe it would help them grow. Mhmm. So they put that oil on plants, and actually it makes them wither. And their best hypothesis as to why these plants produce that is when it's dry and there's not been a lot of rain. They secrete that oil to get other plants that are trying to encroach on their area back and make them wither away so that they can take them more of the water that is there.
Jam:Oh my gosh. It's and it's like sort of an offensive thing.
Melissa:Right. Isn't that so, like, harsh and cold blood?
Jam:It really is. But, like, I mean, so much of Plants and animals and even, I guess, us are all about, like, staying alive. Sounds like it's kind of the goal for everything.
Melissa:Cutthroat cutthroat plants. Harsh. So I thought that was interesting.
Jam:Yeah. That is interesting.
Melissa:So that's one component of rain smell. Okay. It's this oil called petrichor.
Jam:And it's just in plants? You said that? Or
Melissa:It can be produced by plants and bacteria
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Just to make of fatty acids that then break down. That oil will have more aromatic components, more smelly components to it. The other thing is, this is actually a chemical compound. It's not a oil. It's a chemical compound known as geosmin.
Melissa:It has a chemical structure. So any organic chemist or whoever wants to go look it up, you can see the structure. Mhmm. Geosmin has that earthy smell.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:It's the smell that you get when you break up your garden.
Jam:Yes.
Melissa:It's produced by certain bacteria.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:It tastes bad to us if you put it in water. K. But it smells good to us. It has that earthy taste in beets. That's that's the what we would taste, but it smells good.
Melissa:Uh-huh. And we're so good at detecting it. You can detect 1 teaspoon of geosmin in a 2 in the equivalent of 200 Olympic swimming pools. What? Isn't that insane?
Jam:That's really weird. Did I mean, was that, like, necessary to our survival to, like, know if something we were eating or drinking had that in there so that's why we have such a strong ability?
Melissa:I don't know. We're gonna talk next week about instances where that is definitely true. Uh-huh. But I couldn't find much more information at all about giosmin.
Jam:That's crazy.
Melissa:So interesting. But it is that earthy smell. Like, when you're breaking up your garden or after a rain when you get that earthy smell, that's Yeah. As a result of jasmine.
Jam:So we're smelling a combo of jasmine and petrokora when it rains?
Melissa:Yes. But how does that get to our nose when it rains and not every other day? Why do we have that smell when it rains and not the rest of the time? Because it's always in the ground Uh-huh. Especially if it's warm and dry.
Jam:Is the fact that, like So the humidity is way higher, right, whenever it's raining? Because literally, there's water in the air, big old drops of it and tiny ones.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:Is it, like, carrying it around? Like, it's like
Melissa:That's very close.
Jam:Water up, or they're slapping the earth and stuff and slapping the plants? And then little, It's kind of like sending out the oil and whatever else stuff.
Melissa:That is a great guess. That's really good.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So some scientists
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:Took a very zoomed in video of what happens when raindrops hit the ground. Uh-huh. The raindrops hit the ground, and air bubbles get trapped underneath the raindrops, underneath the water, and those air bubbles burst. Mhmm. And when they burst, these tiny, tiny drops of water are flying out of the burst, making basically an aerosol.
Melissa:So just small molecules that are Yeah. Being carried in the air. And that is what brings the smell of petrichor and jasmine to our nose is it gets aerosolized as a result of those bubbles bursting after the water drop balls on it.
Jam:Very interesting.
Melissa:And that's why it smells like that after a light rain, but not after a downpour heavy rain.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:Because it's not gonna allow that. And this is amazing to me. A scientist took a video of this occurring, and you can actually see that happening. Uh-huh. I learned it from an ACS video, but they published in a peer review journal Uh-huh.
Melissa:Where you could see the image Uh-huh. Of the aerosol forming, and you could visualize that that is then the volatile compound that's hitting our nose and why that gets carried to us more than than other times.
Jam:Woah. What?
Melissa:Isn't that
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Insane? Okay. We will link to the ACS video. It's an ACS reactions video. They have a lot of information that will help me to start on some confusing topics.
Melissa:Mhmm. Mhmm. We'll put a link in our show notes. I highly encourage you to go look at it and to check out the original paper if you are a scientist because it's really amazing. And I'm gonna show it to you, Jam, right now.
Jam:Okay. I can't wait. And we're back.
Melissa:Oh, gosh.
Jam:We I so I just saw the video, and it was way, way, way cool. And what it immediately reminded me of is how, like so you have a pot of super stew, which might that, that you're cooking on the stove. If you throw something else in there, no matter what it is I mean, may maybe you pour a little bit of oil or, some sort of, like, vegetable juice or something like that, Oreo and some more beans or whatever. No matter what it is you're adding to the pot, even if you don't, like, plunge it in, like, like, Like, slam dunk it in, which would be a horrible idea. A little bit of whatever's in the pot can also just fly up.
Melissa:So,
Jam:like, I just pour a little bit of oil in even though it's not like like, I I responsibly slam dunked it in. Mhmm. A little bit of the broth that's already in there can easily splash up. Yep. And, Also, I tend to do that.
Jam:You get a little bit of a whiff of, like Mhmm. More of what's happening by just disturbing the the pot Right. By adding something else. That sort of immediately reminded me of, like I'm supposed to see VI. If I get tomato based soup or something like that, you gotta be careful because you could easily splatter it onto yourself With even, like, the slightest bit of something that you're adding in?
Jam:Right.
Melissa:I
Jam:sort of made you think of first. It's like like, rain is just like a lot of Ingredients being added to the soup, and then a little bit of the earthy stuff and other things on the ground and all the plants in spite that just shoot shoots into the air.
Melissa:Very insightful.
Jam:But it happens everywhere. A little bit everywhere. It's, like, on this crazy scale. It's kinda nuts.
Melissa:The authors of that paper, by the way, are Jung and Boy. I'm Sure. I'm butchering those, but it is a really outstanding paper
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And quite beautiful. That's when science is so beautiful.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And the way I found it was through these reaction videos from the ACS that we're gonna link to. And I use those actually as references a lot, so they're worth it to check out if you ever are interested in some everyday life applications of science beyond just this.
Jam:Awesome.
Melissa:Well, that's it for me on this end. So you ready to teach me what you learned today?
Jam:I am very ready. Okay. So we've all got noses. We've all we've had them all for a long time. In fact, it's so long that we just call it the olfactory.
Jam:You know what I'm saying? Okay. Yeah. No. The oldest factory in the book.
Jam:And Oh, no. There's just molecules of stuff in the air all the time. We already know that's true. They whether it's just, like, water or the air breathing, which is a combination of Bunch of stuff. Oxygen, nitrogen, whatever else.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:C o two. And, also, apparently, things that we drink or eat or that grow or anything on the earth
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:Can have a little bit of its Essence, I guess, molecules of it entered the air. And somehow, In some amazing way, our noses have these receptors that when those molecules a few of them get in there, Our ole our olfactory starts churning up, and it,
Melissa:I should start vetting my ideas on what I'm gonna do on how good it is, how easy it is for you to make a stupid pun out of it. It's like, stupid pun? No. We can't do that.
Jam:Dude, I think I think olfactory is just too funny. It's just, like I love that it's called that. It's so perfect. Oh, okay. Did that was just asking for it to be a pun.
Jam:So our noses have these receptors. And when the molecules get in there, It starts doing stuff, I guess. And it's like, okay. What's happening? What is this?
Jam:And it's working hard with our brain, I guess Mhmm. To identify what it is and to somehow Then allow us to, like, actually experience that sensation. Mhmm. So it takes the little molecules. This is the part that's hard because it's not really chemistry.
Jam:A lot of this is the, would you say physio something?
Melissa:Physiology.
Jam:Physiology. Mhmm. But the important part that the like, the real chemistry part of it is that these molecules that come from different things. Give a sense about what they are, and then our noses can pick up on that. So, like, little bits of Coffee is who knows how many types of molecules are up in the air floating around into our noses, but then our brain's able to figure out, it's coffee.
Jam:Right. And
Melissa:And, again, if there's someone who has worked on this or studied this that is listening, please let us know. We'd love to learn more.
Jam:And then we know what it what the smell is.
Melissa:Yeah. Amazing.
Jam:So with the the example you gave of rain smell. There's a few things that have to enter the air for us to get the smell that we identify as rain smell. Mhmm. Rain smell is just a form Form of these things that are always around
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:Into the air, and then we smell them in a unique combo.
Melissa:Right. I think the petrichor is around more predominantly when it's warm.
Jam:Okay. Oh, interesting.
Melissa:From what I could tell, I didn't look deeply into that part.
Jam:That really I mean, I don't know if it's just because you just said that, and now I'm thinking about it. But I think if you'd asked me, I would've associated it more with, like, spring and summer than I would with, like, raining in the winter. You know what I mean?
Melissa:Yes. I didn't realize that either until I was looking up information about this.
Jam:That's crazy.
Melissa:Hate.
Jam:So it sends that into the air. The rain is what does that as it falls. And then just like everything else we smell, we smell Those little bits little molecules of of petrichor and gosmin Right. In in the air. And then we know that as rain smell.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:Gosh. Dude, that's crazy.
Melissa:That is crazy. The one thing I wanna clarify Uh-huh. For chemists specifically is geosmin is a compound of a molecule, 1 individual type. Uh-huh. And Petrocor is made up of a lot
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Of fatty acids that break down into other things.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So those are that's kind of a distinction. 1 is one type of molecule, and the other is a is a oil made up of many different ones. But that is a distinction that would only matter to maybe, like, 10% of our listeners. So if
Jam:you could see the molecules flying up in the air, the j osmond would look Simpler?
Melissa:It's 1 ring. Uh-huh. And then petrochlor is
Jam:would be, like, a few things. It's, like, 10 things
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:That 10 different
Melissa:types of molecules. Right?
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Got it. For example, ten's a random number. But yes.
Jam:Yeah. So exactly, 10. No more, no less.
Melissa:Don't listen to anything he titts. Just kidding.
Jam:Blind to
Melissa:the air.
Jam:That's interesting, especially that our noses can, like, kind of add those up together and Think of it as one thing. So it's like
Melissa:Right.
Jam:We're getting however many MTN things in Omnitoreceptors. Mhmm. And we're like, yep. That's OMO cookies.
Melissa:Right?
Jam:Yep. That's Rain's Mill. Yeah. That's really fascinating.
Melissa:I know. It really is fascinating. Well, I'm glad that you enjoyed it.
Jam:Yeah. I very much did.
Melissa:Should we wrap it up with our weekend review?
Jam:I'd love to. Let's do it. One highlight of my week is a kinda simple one, but a friend of mine created a, kinda cool group text Discord thing for, media people, like photo, video, audio people.
Melissa:Right up your alley.
Jam:Mhmm. And so me and one of your roommates, and a bunch of other people are in it.
Melissa:One of my roommates? Yeah. Oh, cool. Cool.
Jam:Is it okay to say that?
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:I forgot. I guess she is a media person. Yeah. I just think of her as my friend.
Jam:Yeah. So me and Nicole and a lot bunch of other people are in this Discord thing where meeting people can talk and stuff, and it's been really fun. I think it'll also be, like, really helpful. Like, get feedback on stuff. So far, it's just been really fun.
Jam:And a lot of work I do is Either alone or just with, like, 1 person at a time kinda thing? Yeah. And so it's it's fun to have almost like the water cooler chat thing with people That do really similar work to what I do. Right. But it's an artificial situation because we'd never all be in an office like that.
Jam:You know, it doesn't really make sense. You don't have the, like, a media factory or whatever.
Melissa:Wow. That's so cool.
Jam:So I've really been enjoying that this week, and it's been a huge highlight. It's just been a lot of fun. So
Melissa:That's great. I'm happy to hear that.
Jam:I only know, like, a couple of them in real life. And so it's also weird because it's, like, all these new folks that I'm learning about. So that's cool too.
Melissa:That sounds awesome.
Jam:What about you? What's going on with your week?
Melissa:Well, I kinda mentioned I've got some family stuff with my mom having surgery, and so that's been making it kind of hard for me to focus on my work.
Jam:Yes. Understandable.
Melissa:Yeah. I my instinct is to just watch TV all day. Yeah. So yesterday, to counteract that, I went to go stay spend the day working with my friend who stays at home with her son.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:This is friend of the show, Abby and Abby and Steven.
Jam:Oh, yes.
Melissa:They have
Jam:Steven, the very inquisitive
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Questioner.
Melissa:And Abby actually found these old pictures. I can post them of me teaching Steven organic chemistry before even we started this show. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So that was kinda fun.
Jam:Dang. That is fun.
Melissa:But I went to stay with her while she was home with her very cute son, Miles, and just worked all day yesterday. And I got so much done, and it was so nice to be just in their home and comfortable, but still getting work done.
Jam:Yes. Yeah.
Melissa:And it's just helpful for me to have someone there who knows I'm supposed to be working to just actually concentrate, and I got quite a bit knocked out. And so that was just a really nice time. Yeah. Almost restful, but still very productive. Uh-huh.
Melissa:Good to see people I really care about. I've been close friends with them for 9 or 10 years now. So that was just a really nice way to spend a working day.
Jam:Totally. That's awesome.
Melissa:Was a really nice thing about my week, and I got everything done for this episode and next week's episode. I'm really on top of things. Nice. So that was good.
Jam:Is really good.
Melissa:Yeah. Good friends make everything better.
Jam:Yeah. They really do.
Melissa:Alright. Well, thank you guys so much. Thanks, Jam, for coming to my office and learning about smells.
Jam:Anytime.
Melissa:And thank you guys at home listening and learning about smells and giving opportunity to get to learn more so I can teach you guys more. I've had so much fun making these episodes.
Jam:Wilson, I have a lot of ideas for topics of chemistry in everyday life, but we wanna hear from you, just like smells, which we heard from a lot of you guys. So if you have questions ideas, you can reach out to us on Gmail, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook at chem for your life. That's share thoughts and ideas. If you enjoy this podcast, you can subscribe on your favorite podcast app. And if you really like it, you can write a review on Apple Podcasts.
Jam:That helps us to be able to share chemistry with even more people. If you like to help us keep our show going and contribute to the cost of making it, Go to kodashfi.com/chemforyourlife and donate the cost of a cup of coffee.
Melissa:This episode of Chemistry For Your Life was created by Melissa Coleenie and Jame Robinson. References for this episode can be found in our show notes or on our website. Jame Robinson is our producer, and we'd like to give a special thanks to a Hefner and in Newell who reviewed this
