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Good evening, and welcome back to Superquark.
This evening we present all the reportages that have been filmed
around the world, because this is how Superquark works.
We do not buy other people's reportages but we produce our own
except the wild life documentary.
This evening the first reportage is rather original.
Did it ever happen to you to speak with someone whose breath smells of garlic?
It's a very unpleasant experience, especially
if this person doesn't realize his situation
and gets closer and closer to you to speak more confidentially.
The only way out is to fly away. Starting from a similar idea
the US Army is trying to manufacture a harmless bomb which releases
such a stink that the enemy would fly away.
When I was a young boy there were shops
where small smelly ampoules were sold for pranks.
Their effect was quite impressive, but here the target is, how to say,
a "garlic" nuclear bomb or something even worse.
Lorenzo Pinna has been to the labs where these researches are carried on
and he also went through a test of pretty bad smells synthetized for
the non-lethal weapon.
He survived, here is his reportage.
A terrible stench, insane. It’s impossible to breathe. The heart beats crazy.
It’s impossible to think ...to talk. A stink never smelled ... that boggles the mind ...
Panic... the only way out is..
to fly away from this horror invisible, devastating, penetrating everywhere ...
Nothing like this has yet happened, but it might happen
if the U.S. military will be able to realize
an ambitious program of non-lethal weapons.
The super stinking bomb.
Is it possible to create a smell so monstrous
that is not only nauseating, but also terrifying?
It is widely known that the sense of smell can trigger strong emotions.
In the scent of madaleinette, a traditional French cookie,
the great writer Marcel Proust felt rising, with extraordinary strength,
memories of times long gone of his life, the time lost,
whose research is the topic of his great novel.
More prosaically, the smell of old uniforms or tents can generate
memories so vivid as to cause panic, even today,
to several veterans of a distant war, as the Vietnam War.
But is it possible to synthesize in the laboratory an odor that causes intense
fear,
without resurrecting memories of past bad experiences?
At the University of Minnesota, at the Veteran Medical Center,
Jose Pardo has studied the issue with the help of a special technique,
PET, allowing to see action in various parts of the brain.
The volunteers smell a cocktail of really disgusting and repellent
stenches, mainly sulfur compounds.
Here the revolting exhalation is enclosed in a bag.
How does the brain react?
Well, it is possible to see that the most active parts are two small glands,
called “amygdala”, located deep in the brain.
We see them in false colors in these images.
These glands, especially the left, are very sensitive, at least in animals,
to danger signals, visual, auditory and olfactory.
The amygdala plays an important role in triggering fear.
Where to look for the most terrible smell in the world?
We have to keep in mind that the concept of what is fragrant or smelly
varies greatly with human cultures.
A horse lover would define "moving" the smell of manure.
The same exhalation can be considered repugnant
by those who do not have the same passion.
In Southeast Asia this fruit, the "durian", is considered a real delicacy,
so much that it is sold, even out of season, frozen,
but to a western nose is simply nauseating, because it smells rotten.
Moreover, even some cheese, a real treat for many gourmets,
in terms of odor, is no joke.
So how to find a smell that brings together the whole human race?
At the Monell Institute for the study of the sense of taste and smell, in Philadelphia,
researchers are on the trail of this terrible smell.
The first tests on volunteers of various ethnic backgrounds have
immediately allowed to exclude certain stenches
disgusting but not frightening.
In the exceptional collection of stinks and stenches at this institution,
the researchers were able to find one truly formidable.
It is enclosed in this little bottle.
It's called “US government standard for bathroom malodor".
It's a mixture developed to test the deodorizing power of cleaning products.
This standard malodor of toilets is not really standard,
it’s not easy to come across, and it's really horrible and disgusting:
all the volunteers who have sniffed were frightened believing it toxic and
dangerous,
when in fact it is absolutely harmless.
But for the Super stinking Bomb the smell of the US standard is not enough.
Another essence beyond the worst fantasies is called "Who Me?”
Imagine a dump in the middle of summer, with rotting organic waste that bubble
and ferment.
The stench of this hellish place can only give an idea of the quality of this odor,
"Who Me?".
The "bouquet" of this stench is dominated by sulfur molecules
that the brain recognizes as warning signs
because they indicate the rotten organic decomposition.
With a drop of this plague on, you will create a void in the busiest streets.
Hence the affectionate nickname given by researchers
to this horrendous fellow: "Who Me?".
As you can see Andrea our cameraman,
fearing the effect of the disturbing scent has changed
and put on this impermeable cloak to prevent his clothes to absorb the deadly
plague.
And being compelled to ask, once he leaves the laboratory,
in the midst of people fleeing: "Who me?".
While on their own these two deadly stenches are not yet effective enough,
a mixture may be the trump card.
But in what proportions to mix the two most terrible stenches in the world:
the "Us government standard for bathroom malodor” and "Who Me?".
We wanted to try this amazing mixture at the base of the super stinking bomb.
Some of the crew volunteers? It always goes like this. And here we are in the
home stretch.
At the finish line: the most disgusting smell on the planet.
Enough, enough!
Judging by our test, the work to package this extreme horrible smell is quite
advanced,
but let's hear what the director of the project says.
One of the reasons that odors can arouse our sense of fear is
that represent a warning signal about the environment where we are in.
Even if we don't associate this bad smell with past experiences
we are very cautious in front of it beacuse it might turn out to be toxic.
So I think it is quite simple to synthetize a bad smell capable
of inducing fear in people even if they don't have no experience with it.
However, even if making the more horrible smell of the world is technically
possible,
before using it as a non-lethal weapon, many other problems will have to be
solved.
Because once launched in the open air “super stink” will have
to prove itself quite resistant to the inevitable
dilution in the atmosphere and to the wind action.
And also that after having polluted the air for a few hours,
it dissolves and does not stay on for days or weeks.