Smelling Storms? Human Supersenses May Become a Reality

[:eek:]

http://www.livescience.com/40323-humans-may-develop-super-senses.html

 

[Teelie]

Many people can kind of, sort of already do that. I'd have to dig up the article for the specifics and details but there's an ability most of us have lost to smell when impending rain is from the way something reacts soil of the Earth before and after a rainfall.

 

[Piper Maru]

The smell of ozone!

 

[Teelie]

It's not ozone actually but something else. Really need to dig that up. No pun intended.

 

[Teelie]

And I found it.

Scientific American

Ozone is part of it, geosmin is what I was thinking of but it's after a rain.

(From July 2012)

When people say they can smell a storm coming, they're right. Weather patterns produce distinctive odors that sensitive noses sniff out. This year's peculiar weather patterns—such as drought in the Midwest and a "super derecho" of thunderstorms earlier this summer—are no exception. In fact, as the rains return after a dryspell, many of these odors are stronger than ever. So, what are the scents of a summer storm?

[...]

Falling water disturbs and displaces odoriferous molecules on surfaces, particularly on dry ones, and carry them into the air. If you happen to be near vegetation, these molecules may come from plants and trees. For city dwellers, these odorants rise up from concrete and asphalt. Some are fragrant, others foul.

 

[Warhammer]

Since I was a kid, I could always smell when it was about to start pouring. Some of my friends would look at me weird and think I was bulls***in'. It's cool to know that I have a superpower.

 

[Asteroid-Man]

Since I was a kid, I could always smell when it was about to start pouring. Some of my friends would look at me weird and think I was bulls***in'. It's cool to know that I have a superpower.

Wait - everyone CAN'T just do this!? I thought this was normal.

 

[SpideyFan866]

I'm not sure if its a supersense, but I am quite psychic at times.

 

[Asteroid-Man]

Oh cool! David Eagleman! He's fantastic! I've been reading Incognito.

 

[Silicon Surfer]

I can smell the difference in the moisture in the air and use that to tell whether it will rain soon or whether the rain is still a ways off. Funny thing is that after a lifetime of chronic hay fever it is about the only thing that my nose is good for. Some people can also sense magnetic north. They supposedly use a concentration of iron in the nasal area for this. I have usually been able to identify north even without looking and in a strange location.