Speaker 1: Hi. I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy V. Wilson, and
Speaker 1: we're the co hosts of Stuff You Missed in History Class.
Speaker 1: We are a history podcast that tries to look at
Speaker 1: the things that maybe we're overlooked in your history classes,
Speaker 1: maybe not covered in as much detail, or frankly, maybe
Speaker 1: covered in a way that was not accurate. New episodes
Speaker 1: come out every Monday and Wednesday on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify,
Speaker 1: or anywhere else that podcasts can be listened to. Hey, everybody,
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Speaker 1: from how Stuff Works. Hey there, brain stuff gang. I'm
Speaker 1: Christian Seger, and have you ever been to the gas
Speaker 1: station before filling up your gelope when suddenly your nostril
Speaker 1: hairs twings with an aromatic burning sensation. It's like the
Speaker 1: wise sages of Leonard Skinner'd once saying, oh that smell.
Speaker 1: Can't you smell that smell? I'm talking about gasoline, people,
Speaker 1: Why does it smell so good? Well, the first answer
Speaker 1: is pretty simple. Actually, gasoline or petrol, as our friends
Speaker 1: across the pond like to call it, contains a chemical
Speaker 1: hydrocarbon called benzene used to boost its octane rating, and
Speaker 1: benzine naturally has a sweet scent to it that our
Speaker 1: noses are specially sensitive to. In fact, it evaporates so
Speaker 1: quickly that you'd smell benzene instantly if you just put
Speaker 1: some in a dish in the same room you're in.
Speaker 1: It is so pungent we can get a whiff of
Speaker 1: it if there's only one to five parts per million
Speaker 1: in the air we breathe. And benzine is not just
Speaker 1: in gasoline. We use it in plastics, pesticides, and detergents.
Speaker 1: It's also in a lot of mass produced toys, so
Speaker 1: it's possible you're associating the smell of gasoline with that
Speaker 1: new toys smell from your childhood. But don't let it
Speaker 1: odor get its enchanting hooks and you too far. Because
Speaker 1: skinnerd also had it right when they saying, oh, that smell,
Speaker 1: the smell of death surrounds you. That's right. The smell
Speaker 1: of benzine can be euphoric, but it's also toxic. If
Speaker 1: you inhale large amounts of it, it actually attacks your
Speaker 1: nervous system. Luckily, it's so pungent that we have plenty
Speaker 1: of warning before hazardous exposure. That's why it can start
Speaker 1: to make you nauseous or give you a headache after
Speaker 1: a while. And the consequences of sniffing too much. Benzine
Speaker 1: and gasoline are not pretty. Inhalent abuse leads to loss
Speaker 1: of consciousness, seizures, liver injury, and distress within your heart
Speaker 1: and lungs. Keep going after that and you're looking at
Speaker 1: neurological impairment and straight up brain damage. The E. P. A.
Speaker 1: Osha and Who also categorized benzine as a carcinogen. The
Speaker 1: cancers it's associated with the most are leukemia and lymphoma.
Speaker 1: And get this, there's possibly another, less dangerous reason why
Speaker 1: we like the smell of gasoline so much. A study
Speaker 1: published in two thousand nine issue of Addiction Research and
Speaker 1: Theory indicates that gasoline smells better to us when we're hungry.
Speaker 1: It found that people rate the smell of gasoline as
Speaker 1: being more pleasant and intense the longer it had been
Speaker 1: since they had last eaten. More research is obviously required,
Speaker 1: but there seems to be a link between our degree
Speaker 1: of hunger and our odor perception of gasoline. Maybe that's
Speaker 1: why gas stations make such a killing on selling junk food.
Speaker 1: Check out the brain stuff channel on YouTube, and for
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