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Cloning the Smell of the Sea

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the more-than-just-dead-fish dept.

An anonymous reader wrote in with an article that opens: "Scientists from the University of East Anglia have discovered exactly what makes the seaside smell like the seaside — and bottled it. The age-old mystery was unlocked thanks to some novel bacteria plucked from the North Norfolk coast." The responsible substance, dimethyl sulfide, in addition to smelling like the coast, also acts as a homing scent for birds looking to feast on plankton.

11 of 143 comments (clear)

  1. cologne by rg_pda · · Score: 2, Funny

    Man, I just had a great idea for a new cologne. I gotta get a meeting with Calvin Klein.

  2. Apparently they arent talking about New Jersey by Karma+Vampire · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think it would take alot more than ONE substance to accurately reproduce the scent of the Jersey Shore..

    1. Re:Apparently they arent talking about New Jersey by thefirelane · · Score: 3, Funny

      I think it would take alot more than ONE substance to accurately reproduce the scent of the Jersey Shore

      I don't think so, most people say it just smells like shit.

      zing

  3. Squawk!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    So...how long before I can use this stuff to seduce that cheeky seagull I've had my eye on lately?

  4. Press Release by RMB2 · · Score: 2, Funny

    All your beach are belong to us

    --
    [/sarcasm]
  5. At last! by nmg196 · · Score: 5, Funny

    > dimethyl sulfide, in addition to smelling like the coast,
    > also acts as a homing scent for birds

    I always knew the scientists could come up with a pheromone which really does attract the birds.

    Now I can smell like the sea AND get all the hot chicks.

  6. Re:intresting by EveLibertine · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm all for curiousity and discovering stuff, but this sounds really useless.
    Obviously you don't have much of an imagination.

    The responsible substance, dimethyl sulfide, in addition to smelling like the coast, also acts as a homing scent for birds looking to feast on plankton.
    1. Find a large flat cement wall
    2. Paint a mural of a lake on it
    3. Coat with dimethyl sulfide
    4. Watch birds smash into it

    Now if that isn't reason enough why this research should considered useful, then there is something wrong with this world.
  7. Re:intresting by FernandoBR · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well, if we hope someday the holodecks of the Enterprise be possible, we must start solving this kind of problems now...

    --
    -x- Sorry my bad English. I'll have him tarred and feathered. -x-
  8. Re:intresting by rjshields · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's true, when you're constantly surrounded by a smell you can't smell it anymore. That's also the reason that most computer geeks don't realise they reek of BO.

    --
    In this world nothing is certain but death, taxes and flawed car analogies.
  9. Re:Double edged sword... by Numbstruck · · Score: 2, Funny

    But I have to pay a little man to beat off the sea birds who have come in search of plankton.


    If I come in search of plankton will I get the same treatment?
  10. Re:intresting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    The responsible substance, dimethyl sulfide...also acts as a homing scent for birds looking to feast on plankton.

    Wait - when I said I wanted a cologne that would attract chicks, that's not what I meant!