Summer, Continued

Yesterday I intended to write a post describing that the smell of rain is a real phenomenon. Sleepiness got the best of me and I turned off the computer, unaware I had already left the first lines dangling out in the open like forgotten laundry. I kind of like the way it sits there on the page so rather than edit it, I’ll leave it be. But, to get back to the intended point: The Smell of Rain.

Petrichor (pronounced /ˈpɛtrɨkər/; from Greek petros “stone” + ichor “gods’ blood”) is the name of the scent of rain on dry earth.The term was coined in 1964 by two Australian researchers, Bear and Thomas, for an article in the journal Nature. In the article, the authors describe how the smell derives from an oil exuded by certain plants during dry periods, whereupon it is adsorbed by clay-based soils and rocks. During rain, the oil is released into the air along with another compound, geosmin, producing the distinctive scent. In a follow-up paper, Bear and Thomas (1965) showed that the oil retards seed germination and early plant growth.

See also, Geosmin, the smell of Earth and a contributor to Petrichor.

I had often wondered what, if any, explanation there was for this smell. I wonder if the memory+smell relationship has any bearing on why so many people describe a love of rain storms. Smell is certainly one of the reasons for me. On that note, it’s for bed. But since I know you won’t read this post unless there’s a picture. Here:

From Petrichor’s Flickr page

PS, I hate firefox or expression engine, or whatever the hell is preventing me from doing simple things like UNDO and REDO and other basic facilities I expect my blog editor to be able to handle.

How To

In light of the last post here are 3 things that I could (conceivably) do but probably won’t.

The Super Mario Theme with laser cutter motors:

lazzor music! from hypatia on Vimeo.

How to inflate a tire with lighter fluid:

The Pharaoh’s snake: