In the article: “The odours defied the expected effects of dilution since workers in the laboratory did not find the odours intolerable.”

I think that bit is saying the chemists who synthesized the compound were desensitized to it, it’s right after a passage where they were ostracized and sprayed with deodorant at a restaurant during lunch

Hydrogen sulfide rapidly desensitized the nose, it wouldn't be surprising for other sulfur compounds to do the same.

Full quote, which seems to say it defies the expected effects of dilution _because_ the chemists weren't bothered by it when they were right next to it, but when they were many yards away they could.

"The odours defied the expected effects of dilution since workers in the laboratory did not find the odours intolerable ... and genuinely denied responsibility since they were working in closed systems. To convince them otherwise, they were dispersed with other observers around the laboratory, at distances up to a quarter of a mile, and one drop of either acetone gem-dithiol or the mother liquors from crude trithioacetone crystallisations were placed on a watch glass in a fume cupboard. The odour was detected downwind in seconds."

In other words, the smell intensity increases with dilution, _not_ decreases. We must protect this data from the homeopaths.

I don't think so. In NileRed's video it was clear that dilution made the odor worse than bring right next to it, which otherwise invoked a "chemical"-ey smell rather than a putrid trash+sewage smell.

I've never smelled this chemical, but I wonder if it's a little bit like skunk spray smell?

There's a saying! "Skunks don't have the WORST smell, just the MOST smell"

It's not the worst smell in the world. I would say it's not even remotely as unpleasant as summertime "dumpster soup", sewage, or whatever. But man, skunk smell is just so intense and overwhelming.

Yes your last sentence all the way

> “Skunks don't have the WORST smell, just the MOST smell"

I did my coding bootcamp in downtown Chicago, near the Merch Mart, and (at least back in 2013) there was a chocolate factory not too far away. I remember walking to class and being almost overpowered by the smell. For awhile it turned me off of chocolate entirely, and I normally have a pretty strong sweet tooth.

I remember feeling so sorry for the people who had to work there, day after day.

>> chocolate factory

Soup factories are notorious for smells. A single pot of cooking food generally smells good, but layer up a dozen different soup flavors and in total it smells like rot.

> I remember feeling so sorry for the people who had to work there, day after day.

As a kid one of the tours we did was a chocolate factory. When the person leading the tour told us the employee told us workers were allowed to take as much chocolate as they wanted we were super jealous.

At the end of the tour, there was a buffet of chocolate snacks nobody wanted to touch (though we were allowed to and did bring bags of products home), the person told us that after a day of working at the factory, most workers have no taste for chocolate snacks whatsoever, and those which do will generally fuck up, binge, get an indigestion, and at best be a lot more reasonable (at worse stop eating chocolate if it was bad enough). Without the allure of the forbidden fruit (sneaking snacks out), chocolate is definitely overpowering enough that it's a turn-off.

I live in 3 blocks from a chocolate factory, and don't find it disturbing. Rather nice. The first time I felt it at a marketplace nearby, and thought someone was making some hot chocolate stuff, and even wanted to take a look what it was, but couldn't find. Sometimes it gives a mild chocolate smell around, nothing more.

When my dog got sprayed by a skunk, it smelled overwhelmingly like a combination of burning rubber and rotten motor oil. Neither of these brands of smells is the worst I’ve ever encountered from a pure quality standpoint, but yes, it felt like it completely coated your nasal and throat passages. You choke on it.

Oh, dogs and smells, this makes me remember my poodle who, as every dog, would routinely look for stinky stuff to lay in. Once he found a dead cat -- it was rather nasty to wash him in the bath after that. Another time he was running around and found a rot fish thrown away near a trash tank -- this was the smelliest washing ever. Had to wash him twice with soap, then with shampoo. Another time, in winter, there was parking area covered with hard snow, compacted by car tires. And he laid and started rolling on a seemingly featureless spot. It turned out, some diesel fuel had been spilled there.

Yeah his nose doesn't feel anything anymore. But the cameraman had a rough time in that island.

covid related loss of smell perhaps?

You think the chemists were time travelers?

The video was made in December 2022.

But still, the covid hypothesis seems extremely farfetched. Desensitization from exposure I could believe.

Oops, thought GP's reply was to another comment.

Loss of smell due directly inhaling ammonia