• Question: what was your first kiss, and why does our poo smell?

    Asked by mydadisbig7 to Ed, Kerrianne, Oli, yoyehudi on 17 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Yo Yehudi

      Yo Yehudi answered on 17 Nov 2017:


      1) My first kiss was actually my husband, about a year before we got married. We’ve been married nearly 14 years now. As for part 2) Errr, ew. I don’t know for sure, but I’m assuming it’s related to the fact that it no longer has many useful nutrients in it (it’s been through our bodies and been processed already!), so evolution has encouraged us to avoid poo and dislike the smell.

    • Photo: Ed Bracey

      Ed Bracey answered on 17 Nov 2017:


      Interesting that you grouped these questions together!
      My first kiss was at a corny school disco when I was about 13.
      Poo smells because bacteria in our gut breakdown your food and they produce chemicals called indole, skatole, chemicals called thiols that have sulfur in them and also hydrogen sulphide. Those are the main culprits!
      At low concentrations skatole can almost smell pleasant, but at high does, like you find in poo, it’s gross.

    • Photo: Oli Wilson

      Oli Wilson answered on 17 Nov 2017:


      I had to wait quite a while for my first kiss, but it was worth it in the end – like Yo, that girl and I are married now! As for your smellier question, I think the others have basically covered the chemistry of it, but it’s worth remembering that you can only smell chemicals if they end up in your nose, and these started off in poo, so – there’s no easy way to say this – you can smell poo because (tiny tiny tiny) bits of it go up your nose. Gross.

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