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Smells

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Rafflesia, Thailand
hot springs

10 Places That Smell Like Nowhere Else

Follow your nose through these unique scentscapes.
Atlas Obscura November 12, 2024
The smell of baking pretzels at an Auntie Anne's is an inescapable part of their branding.
science

How Chain Restaurants Use Smells to Entice Us

When it comes to marketing food, scent can be as important as flavor.
Andrew Coletti September 26, 2024
London, England

Floris Perfumery

A storied London perfume shop that supplies scents for royalty has been operating out of this storefront for nearly 300 years.
food

Podcast: A Tasty Tale about Meyer Lemons

One notably delicious citrus turns out to be a secret killer.
The Podcast Team April 22, 2024
Pasil, Philippines

Sulfur Hills of Pasil

This steaming, yellow-tinged landscape is filled with sulfur-encrusted volcanic vents.
Sulphur Springs
Sulphur Springs, New Mexico

Sulphur Springs

It’s hard to believe this hostile landscape was once a health resort.
perfume

Podcast: Sniffing out What’s Special with Saskia Wilson Brown

What did Napoleon smell like?
The Podcast Team December 21, 2023
Handler Collette Yee rewards detection dog Jack with a round of tug-of-war.
nature

The Adventures and Trials of Jack, Scat-Sniffing Superdog

Jack and his handler Collette Yee found challenges, meaning, and each other in their work helping scientists better understand orcas, bats, and more.
Roxanne Hoorn December 1, 2023
The limestone canopic jars of lady Senetnay featured lids shaped like human heads. Two jars are kept at the Museum August Kestner in Hanover, Germany.
mummies

Get a Whiff of Ancient Egypt’s 'Scent of Eternity'

Experts reconstructed the smell of mummified organs—and it’s actually pretty pleasant.
Roxanne Hoorn September 14, 2023
witchcraft

What the Scent of a Witch Revealed About the Ancient World

Antiquity’s perfumed sorceresses still influence ideas about magic today.
Britta Ager October 24, 2022
Odor objects on display from M Dougherty's exhibit, "/Forest Bath"
New York, New York

Olfactory Art Keller

The only gallery in New York dedicated to olfactory art and the exploration of scent in art.
Spotted skunks perform an impressive handstand to appear twice their size and ward off would-be predators.
science

Wanted: Sweet Skunks That Do Sick Stunts

Scientists' creative approach to collecting spotted skunks led to a new family tree for the handstanding li'l stinkers.
Ashley Stimpson September 22, 2021
Heron Island is a good place to look at (and smell) coral.
coral reefs

How Do Stressed-Out Corals Smell?

The answer could help researchers detect bleaching events before they happen.
Jessica Leigh Hester December 11, 2020
medicine

In 19th-Century America, Fighting Disease Meant Battling Bad Smells

The history of unpleasant odor, or miasma, has unexpected relevance in the time of COVID-19.
Daniela Blei April 8, 2020
Mass animal die-offs, simulated here in an Oklahoma hog body farm, can negatively impact the surrounding ecosystem.
science

Scientists Are Simulating Mass Animal Die-Offs in an Oklahoma Prairie

Understanding the ecological impact of hundreds of dead feral hogs.
Sabrina Imbler January 22, 2020
You might want to hold your nose.
meteorites

Some Space Rocks Are Notorious for Being Stinky

What they actually smell like seems to be in the nose of the beholder.
Jessica Leigh Hester January 16, 2020
The record-breaking <em>Rafflesia</em>, taken on December 31.
forests

An Elusive 'Corpse Lily' Bloomed Larger Than Ever Before in Indonesia

The massive red flower also smelled really, really bad.
Sabrina Imbler January 8, 2020
Inside the scent-based mini-museum.
Reykjavik, Iceland

Fischersund

This aromatherapy shop and mini-museum cofounded by the Sigur Rós frontman documents Icelandic history through scents.