Skunks are infamous for their stench, but what’s the chemistry behind the foul-smelling liquid they produce? And, more importantly, how can we use chemistry to get rid of it? The latest edition of Periodic Graphics in C&EN takes a look. View the full graphic on the C&EN site.
What makes our armpits smell when we sweat? And how do deodorants and antiperspirants fight the odour? This edition of Periodic Graphics in Chemical and Engineering News takes a look at the chemistry involved. View the full graphic on the C&EN site.
Why are some people allergic to cats? Why does cat pee smell so bad? And why do cats love catnip? This graphic looks at some of the answers!
Some air fresheners just mask bad smells – but others claim to eliminate odours completely. What’s the chemistry behind these claims? The latest edition of Periodic Graphics in C&EN takes a look! Click here to view the full graphic on the C&EN site.
Hanging in the wardrobes of our flat, alongside our clothes, are a couple of small bags of dried lavender. Like many others, we keep them there to ward off clothes moths, but while offhandedly discussing this a couple of weeks ago I realised that I had absolutely no idea if there was scientific evidence to back up this repellent effect. So, I did what any good scientist would, and started a quest to find out whether lavender’s anti-moth powers were the real deal, or as scientifically holey as the moth-eaten clothes it claims to ward against!
Usually, you’d want to stay as far away as possible from a smell described variously as like ‘dead rat’, ‘mouldy bath mat’, or ‘cabbages and death’. However, the residents of Cambridge, UK, have been flocking to the Cambridge University Botanic Gardens over the past two days to sample this unpleasant sounding aroma for themselves. The explanation lies in the source of the smell: the rare occurrence of a Titan Arum plant flowering.
