Petrichor, the smell that follows rain

Okay, this is so utterly cool I had to share. I love the smell of "life" after a light rain. It appears light rain releases a soil biote created scent that has many effects on humans. We are more sensitive to it than sharks are to a drop of blood in the water. 10 parts per trillion.

https://saskatoon.ctvnews.ca/a-deep-dive-into-petrichor-the-smell-that-follows-rain-1.6909522

“There are microbes, there are algae, there are fungi,” Riskin told CTV News. “And all of them are making these little chemicals that get spritzed up into the air like a perfume, so that when you take a whiff, you’re not smelling the rocks and you’re not smelling the rain. You’re smelling the life that lives in those soils.”

... “Petrichor has interesting effects where it has a relaxing effect, kind of like forest bathing,” she said. “Those chemicals actually create a feeling of good health and can, in some cases, be helpful for humans. So just being around them in nature apparently is useful for us.”

I do love the smell of rain after a dry spell. It certainly is distinctive and evocative. I remember reading something about it in the New Scientist magazine ages ago.
I also like the smell of damp bracken, and mown grass, both equally distinctive and evocative for me.

Oh my goodness, there's a word for that?!

One of my most favorite smells.

Right up on the list with vanilla, rosemary, and wood shavings.

Bother!

I like the smell of "rain"!!!

I'll never understand why "two legs" feel the need to name everything!

Thanks for the post. it was an interesting read.

TTIF

Peace

Deane Adams wrote:I'll never understand why "two legs" feel the need to name everything!

We are language animals. I guess if we don't give it a name, we will be stuck with an appalling acronym -- That Thing That Makes It Smell So Good After It Rains.

TTTMISSGAIR. Rolls right off the tongue.

Hey, Douglas; I just came in from checking the night sky, mostly cloudy, no star watching tonight.

"I can feel it coming in the air tonight"  Oh wait I think that Collins guy has the rights to that.  I wish that I had written it.

Can you have pre-TTTMISSGAIR??  The tree frogs are calling the rain down, well they do most nights here.


Peace

Deane Adams wrote:Can you have pre-TTTMISSGAIR??  The tree frogs are calling the rain down, well they do most nights here.

Dunno for sure, but I bet tree frogs can pronounce it in their songs.

Mr Ara gave me a funny look when I said earlier that I could smell petrichor.

We actually don't smell petrichor very often. The soil is almost always damp, so you don't get that fresh rain smell.

When we do get it it is lovely, because it means we have had a nice dry spell too!

The word itself is just really cool, too! The writers of Dr Who even thought so, and used it as a password dreamed up by Idris (the personification of the Tardis), in one of my favorite episodes. John even named one of our goats Idris, because that's also one of his favorite episodes. There were several fun quotes in that episode...

Carla Burke wrote:The word itself is just really cool, too! The writers of Dr Who even thought so, and used it as a password dreamed up by Idris (the personification of the Tardis), in one of my favorite episodes. John even named one of our goats Idris, because that's also one of his favorite episodes. There were several fun quotes in that episode...

Awesome!