Cloning the Smell of the Sea

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.

Comments

intresting

[Turn-X Alphonse]

Very intresting research but why do we need to find out why the seaside smells like the seaside? I'm all for curiousity and discovering stuff, but this sounds really useless.

Re:intresting

[Ninwa]

What if I happen to enjoy the smell and want it present in a particular room of my house? I'll be having my sea-side air (freshener?) thank you!

Re:intresting

[rawn53]

I'm all for curiousity and discovering stuff, but this sounds really useless.

Result results results, eh? Science for the sake of science isn't good enough anymore?

Re:intresting

[theguyfromsaturn]

Never forget that those who laid the foundation of discrete computing and many basic algorithms that today have proven useful lived in an era where computers were not even dreamed of. Their research could also have been called pointless. Because you cannot see the purpose of some bit of knowledge does not make it useless per se. It may one day prove to be that little tidbit that makes something **apparently** totally unrelated and wonderful be possible. Understanding the "WHY" of one thing makes possible the "WHAT IF..." of another thing.

Seven Seas and More Smells

[Doc Ruby]

The most notable characteristic of the sea is that it is constant, eternal, but always changes. Waves, tides, floods, storms, breezes, everything about the sea is always in constant change. It's a metaphor for change. And since smells are little pieces of the thing dissolving directly in the flesh of our brains, the smell changes all the time, too.

Different seas. Different tides. Different seasons. Different weather. Very different smells. I've lived on Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf and Great Lakes. I've visited the Eastern and Western shores of them, the eastern reach of the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean, Mediterranean, North, Irish, Marmara and other seas. They've all got different, distinctive smells, which themselves vary.

When scientists can bottle that, an everchanging ocean of sea smells, they've really got something. Until then, they've just got some dirty water.

Smell long available to brewers.....

[zymurgy_cat]

DMS in beer, from bacterial infection or inadequate boiling, is often described as smelling as cooked shellfish or seafood....