Without social distancing, how do bacteria survive a viral epidemic? phys.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from phys.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
MF: Really, it s that specific like molecule, or?
CS: It s a specific molecule, we can smell one part per trillion. It s like we re bloodhounds for earth smell.
MF: I can t smell that much of anything else can I? I mean, that s pretty sensitive, right?
CS: Yeah, no one really knows why we re that sensitive to it. But other animals are too. And there are good reasons for that. Because the smell comes from a certain kind of a microbe that lives in the soil that has benefits to a lot of animals that are associated with the soil.
MF: So there s a lot going on in soil. So I m just going to ask is this geosmin just in real soil? Like what I think of as active soil, not a bunch of sand or gravel.