In Cambodia, rats are being trained to sniff out land mines. They can clear 200 square meters in less than 35 minutes, which usually takes 2-3 days with a de-miner.
100 Mind-Blowing Sniff Facts
You could sweat when you’re anxious to alert others. One theory suggests we’ve evolved to sweat whilst anxious to alert the brains of other people around us so they are primed for whatever it is that’s making us anxious. Brain scans have revealed that when you sniff the sweat of a panic-induced person, regions of the brain that handle emotional and social signals light up. When you’re anxious your sympathetic nervous system releases hormones including adrenaline, which activates your sweat glands.
Dogs sniff good smells with their left nostril. Dogs normally start sniffing with their right nostril, then keep it there if the smell could signals danger, but they’ll shift to the left side for something pleasant, like food or a mating partner.
Bees bite. To protect their hives from outsiders, some “guard bees” will monitor the entrance and sniff bees that come in. If they find an outsider bee from another hive, the guard bee will bite and sting the intruder.
Coffee beans can cure bad breath. Coffee beans are a known odour neutraliser. Perfume shops even make customers sniff coffee beans when trying different fragrances. However, you must chew them if you’re going for deodorizing – drinking coffee can worsen your breath through bacteria. Science, right?
In warmer months, reindeer feast on grasses, mushrooms and plants. In the winter they feast mainly on moss and lichen. Reindeer have a strong sense of smell, which helps them sniff out food underneath layers of snow.
PlayStation 1 had Scratch and Sniff discs. In 1999, Gran Turismo 2, the 2-disc edition of the game, the blue disc featured the smell of fuel and burning rubber. When FIFA 2001 was released in 2000, they used Scratch and Sniff technology on their discs, so it smelled like football stadium turf.
Two PlayStation 1 games, FIFA 2001 and Gran Turismo 2, have scratch & sniff discs. The FIFA 2001 smelled like a soccer field, while Gran Turismo 2 smelled like car tyres.
Smell test. A 17th-century King of Arakan chose wives by making women stand in the sun and then doing a blind sniff test on all their sweaty clothes. The ones he didn’t like he sent to lesser nobles.