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Where does the smell of rain come from?

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Have you ever smelled a storm approaching? It’s Okay To Be Smart explains how you don’t have to check your phone to see if it’s about to rain, you can use your nose!

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Additional references


Camels seek out wet soil smells - The Guardian

Bad-tempered, obstinate, a tendency to spit, kick and grunt like a weightlifter. You could say that camels have a bit of an image problem, but they also have a magic about them as they tramp off in single file across miles of desert in search of water and then, seemingly against all the odds, find an oasis.

Human nose can detect a trillion smells - Science Magazine

A rose, a fresh cup of coffee, a wood fire. These are only three of the roughly 1 trillion scents that the human nose and brain are capable of distinguishing from each other, according to a new study. Researchers had previously estimated that humans could sense only about 10,000 odors but the number had never been explicitly tested before until now.

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