Toasted toes
FEEDBACK previously caught wind of the fact that a certain type of Asian civet smelled, incredibly, of hot buttered popcorn (7 May), prompting us to ask readers for other incongruous smells found in nature.
Frank Hollis writes that it is âa recognised phenomenon amongst greyhound owners that the pads of their houndsâ feet also smell of popcornâ. Could this be true? Paul R. Bowden tells us that his dogâs feet do indeed smell like popcorn, and further enquiries suggest this is a trait shared by all breeds. Sadly, Feedback doesnât have any pups to test the theory, nor do we find ourselves in the habit of going around sniffing dogsâ feet, so we cannot confirm at this time.
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Parrot pong
CONTINUING the theme, Matthew Bastin offers âan animal I read about, but have not actually had the chance to smell first handâ. That would be the kakapo, a small flightless bird also known as the owl parrot. Matthew recalls that William Stolzenburg, in his book Rat Island, reports that the bird has been described as giving off a musty, sweet scent reminiscent of freesias, honey or clarinet cases. âYet it eats none of these things,â ponders Matthew.
ââIn his recent cartoon on pubs for scientists,â says Martin Grell, âTom Gauld missed out the chemistâs favourite watering hole: the Red Ox.ââ
Sweet wood
AND itâs not just animals that exhibit these unusual qualities. Steve Swift has a large katsura tree growing in his back garden, with âleaves that emit the smell of candy floss when theyâve fallen to the ground in the autumnâ.
Because the smell comes from the leaves on the ground, Steve says, âyou often smell it when youâre some way off, but the smell fades as you approach the tree, as the aroma travels along the ground until something stirs it to nose levelâ.
As an additional autumnal treat, the leaves sometimes turn a beautiful pink before falling to emit their confectionery scent. Willy Wonka, eat your heart out.
Odour-ama
TELEVISION naturalist Steve Backshall writes in with some animals he has known and sniffed: otter spraint (that is to say, droppings) has a distinctly sweet odour that some people claim smells of violets, although itâs not something Feedback is inclined to put to the test.
âGiant salamander and hellbender skin secretions smell like rhubarb,â writes Steve, âwhile elephants in musth leave behind a honeyed garlic smell.â
Weâre also reliably informed that African stink ants evoke freshly laid tarmac. âAs a side note, CK One eau de cologne is used to attract a range of wild cats (including puma) to camera traps,â says Steve.
No shut eye
WHILE visiting Australia, Clement Le Lievre noticed that children there are making the most of the days by gradually weaning themselves off sleep. âThe Advertiser reports that Australian childrenâs sleep âhas been declining by around half an hour a night since the mid-1980sâ. Assuming they were getting the recommended 12 hours of sleep per night to begin with,â writes Clement, âthey must now be sleeping around -5530 hours per night.â Strewth!
Pipe dream
FURTHER to previous examples of pre-science prescience (16 April), Ken May tells us that weâve not yet exhausted George Eliotâs powers of premonition. In Felix Holt, the Radical, she references the speedy if dull journey provided by pneumatic railways:
âPosterity may be shot, like a bullet through a tube, by atmospheric pressure, from Winchester to Newcastle: that is a fine result to have among our hopes; but the slow, old fashioned way of getting from one end of the country to the other is the better thing to have in the memory.â
A criticism that could be equally levelled at Californiaâs much-hyped Hyperloop?
Missing moons
A STRIKING example appears in Jonathan Swiftâs 1726 novel Gulliverâs Travels. As Jim Cable reveals, âthe hero reports from Laputa, a flying island where he met various crazy scientistsâ. The book records that these astronomers had âdiscovered two lesser stars, or satellites, which revolve about Mars; whereof the innermost is distant from the centre of the primary planet exactly three of his diameters, and the outermost, five; the former revolves in the space of ten hours, and the latter in twenty-one and a half.â
The real moons of Mars â Phobos and Deimos â âwere only discovered in 1877, with somewhat similar characteristics,â says Jim.
Magic feeling
FROM worlds without to worlds within: Xavier Duran recounts that Thomas Mannâs The Magic Mountain, published in 1924, is full of scientific references. âIn one passage, a Dr Krokowski hypothesises a substance âthat exists everywhere in the body and sets free the soluble toxins that act like a narcotic on the nervous systemâ.â Xavier says this sounds a lot like endorphins, which were only discovered in 1975.
Sniff test
DESPITE the UKâs Psychoactive Substances bill being widely viewed as âunenforceableâ, the government has announced that its blanket ban on drugs will go into effect on 26 May.
Any consumable that provokes a mental effect is covered, including aromatics, and Feedback canât help but wonder how many of the interestingly scented plants and animals above will be proscribed. Repeat after us: âYes, Iâve sniffed a kakapo, but I swear I didnât inhale.â
