Skunk, tennis balls, chlorine, gasoline, armpits: why do we love weird smells so much?
The answer lies in our memories and biological makeup.
The smell of chlorine is a weird thing to enjoy.
Chlorine can be incredibly toxic to humans;breathing it in large doses can lead to pulmonary edema.
An appreciation of weird smells seems to be a universal experience.
are just a few of the strange smellspeople say they cant get enough of.
Mandy Naglich is a certified Advanced Cicerone, beer educator, food stylist, and the author of How to Taste: A Guide to Discovering Flavor and Savoring Life.
Where does our affinity for strange, sometimes noxious, smells come from?
Does the nose know something we dont?
Why do you love weird smells so much?
This nerve houses receptors thatdetect scent moleculesand relay that information to the olfactory bulb in the brain.
Hence, by their natureautobiographical memories triggered by scentmust also trigger an emotion.
Rather than being simultaneous recollections, emotion and memory are inherently intertwined as one.
Its in your genes
Humans are wildly diverse when it comes to our scent likes and dislikes.
This is becausethe context of smellsis paramount to whether we like them or not in the moment.
Its really the memories associated with those nostalgic scents that make it so interesting.
Mandy Naglich is a certified Advanced Cicerone, beer educator, food stylist, and the author of How to Taste: A Guide to Discovering Flavor and Savoring Life.
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Chlorine
This ones a little gross.
Your partners armpits
If you find yourself savoring thesmell of your boyfriends armpits, youre not alone.
The explanation for this is actually pretty romantic.
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