It's no secret that things smell differently to us. There are substances which smell good (chocolate, flowers, etc.) and those which smell bad (vomit, rotting corpses, etc.). It has to do with the shape of molecules and how they bind to receptors in our olfactory lobes. Once a molecule has bound to a receptor it will trigger a specific response. Some molecules have shapes that end up with a favorable response and smell good to us, and others don't.
I'm here to tell you that a bathroom is no place to expect to encounter good smells. This is not a shocking revelation. The primary reason that a bathroom stinks is because there are little particles of poop floating around in the air that go up your nose and bind to such receptors. It's probably some evolutionary thing that prevents us from trying to eat it or something, although I've never actually heard that nor do I have any evidence to support this claim.
Why do I bring this up you ask? Because it is the idea of little particles of poop floating around that causes me to have to spit my gum out every time I go into a bathroom. I'll be damned of those poop particles are going to get stuck in my gum where I'll have to chew on them for the rest of the day.
4 comments:
I will give you evidence. In a biology class we watched a movie which talked about poop particles being sprayed out thirty feet from the toilet. The study used neon paint and they flushed the toilet...This is why I have my tooth brush in one of those travel cases even when I'm at home. And why I keep the lid down on the toilet.
HAHAHAHAHA!!! Wow, I'd never thought of it in quite that way before. Not being much of a gum chewer, I don't have to worry. But I'll certainly be more aware now.
I think about this everytime someone farts...feces molecules everywhere...
The olfactory receptors are in the olfactory epithelium. Just sayin'. Linda Buck is my hero.
-Stephanie
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