A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual, and physical needs
Hellooooo! Welcome to Volume 108 of Dovi’s Digest.
Anosmia is a funny word. It means the total loss of sense of smell. It’s an uncommon word, and before the pandemic chances are you wouldn’t have heard of it. It’s also a pretty funny word. To me it sounds kinda like schnoz, which is a nose, which means that whenever I hear the word anosmia, my head goes “a-schnoz-mia, heheh”. It’s a very specific word for a very specific medical diagnosis. English is littered with these words. Erinaceous means pertaining to or resembling hedgehogs, nudiustertian pertains to the day before yesterday (my spellcheck doesn’t even pick this up), jumentous relates to something smelling strongly of horse urine, qualtagh is the first person you see after leaving your home, and one of my personal favourites, tyrotoxism which means to be poisoned by cheese. But as good as English is at these little bits of inspired thinking; like shavers, cars, and dictators, the Germans do it far better. Take for example sehnsucht, which is the longing for something unknown and indefinite, waldeinsamkeit aka that feeling you get when you’re walking in a forest on your own, or the lovely (and useful) Backfeifengesicht which is a face that just makes you want to hit it.
As funny a word as anosmia is however, its not such a funny thing. Imagine never being able to smell your new-born’s head, or the perfume/cologne that your partner wears, or even something as mundane as the smell of petrol (ooh mama🤤). We won’t even get to petrichor (the smell of rain, which has cropped up in an earlier article).
In this week’s headline article, we get to learn all about smell, and our sense of it, through the perfume industry, and one perfumer in particular. We’ll learn how genetics plays a role, how a good sense of smell can be cultivated, how an art has progressed scientifically from a process or trial and error, and even that one doesn’t need a sense of smell to create some of the world’s most celebrated scents (ala Beethoven going deaf). There’s a little something for everyone in it, so I hope you give it a read.
Dear reader, each week the Digest brings you a selection of articles for you read during the week. For the most part they’re not much more than a five or 10 minute read (with the occasional 30,000-word whopper). However, I recently started putting together a list of books that I would like to share, both fiction and non-fiction, and I’d love your help to make this list as good as possible!!
You can fill out this form here if you want a book to be put on the list, and if you just want to see what’s on the sheet you can just click on this link here.
I have only two provisos: 1) please try to keep it to books that the whole world doesn’t know. This means that Dickens, Tolkien, Rowling et al shouldn’t be put on the list, unless it’s one of their more obscure books that you really think is worth the read. 2) please only submit books that you truly LOVE, books that you couldn’t put down, books that you want to share with other people because of how they made you feel, books that changed the way you see things.
There is already a list up, and I must say, it’s a doozy.
Do you enjoy the Digest? Would you like it to get better? Then please consider sharing it, as the more articles I’m sent, the better it is. It only takes a few seconds, and all you need to do is click here 👇. Thank you!
There was ONE correct answer to last week’s brainteaser. Well done to Ariel Subotzky. The answer and this week’s riddle are below.
Is your olfactory nerve not lighting up at the prospect of an enticing aroma? That’s fine, there are other things that may be more to your taste (heheh). This week you can read about pathologically cheating students (and how they were caught), how your siblings can make you happier, why good coffee might be more difficult to come by, how nuclear fusion can save humanity, our fixation with giant roadside attractions (like the world’s biggest pineapple, or shrimp), and finally a moving piece about a couple that, when one of them receives a terminal diagnosis, decided to document their story on social media in order to try and remove some of the stigma around cancer and death.
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming,
Have a great week,
Dovi
And now, the articles:
The Odour of Things
Solving the mysteries of scent.
My Students Cheated... A lot
It happened, it’s a long story with ups and downs. I tried my best to turn things around. I’m blogging about it for catharsis and personal growth.
How Your Siblings Can Make You Happier
Sibling relationships affect us more than we probably realize—and we can work on improving them at any age.
The Coffee with Zero Air Miles
Climate impacts are decimating coffee crops in tropical regions. Might we be able to grow coffee in colder countries one day?
Bottling the Sun
The world has been trying to master this limitless clean energy source since the 1930s. We’re now closer than ever.
The Weird World of Gigantic Roadside Attractions
Fancy a giant lobster anyone?
What Is It Like to Be Dying?
In “Documenting Death,” a couple who work in palliative care take to social media to share their experiences after one of them receives a terminal diagnosis.
Quote of the Week:
“A quiet secluded life in the country with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one’s neighbour—such is my idea of happiness.” – Leo Tolstoy
Facts of the Week:
STEVE is an acronym for the path sperm take through the Male reproductive system: Seminiferous Tubules, Epididymis, Vas deferens, Ejaculatory duct.
“Popeye biceps” and “Popeye butt” are medical terms for muscle injuries.
Blood pressure readings are 50% more accurate when taken at home.
When a white coat is worn and people are told it belongs to a doctor, they become more attentive. It doesn't work if they are told it belongs to a painter.
Hay fever didn't exist until the 1800s.
There's a conspiracy theory that Finland doesn't exist and was made up by Japan and the USSR.
The existence of Antarctica was completely unknown until 1820.
Queen Victoria didn't know that pandas existed.
Cartoon of the Week:
Tweet of the Week:
Headline of the Week:
Brainteaser of the Week:
In the Pet Hotel, the rooms are numbered 1 to 5, in that order. Each room can accommodate one animal and has its own light. At night, an animal who is nervous leaves the light on. An animal who is not nervous turns the light off. Each of the rooms 1 to 5 are always occupied by either a dog or a cat, and everyone checks out after a night.
a) On Saturday night, a dog is nervous if and only if there are cats in both adjacent rooms. A cat is nervous if and only if there is a dog in at least one adjacent room. It is observed that four rooms remain lit. How many cats are there at the Pet Hotel?
b) On Sunday night, a dog is nervous if and only if there are other dogs in both adjacent rooms. A cat is nervous if and only if there is another cat in at least one adjacent room. It is observed that only one room remains lit. How many cats are there at the Pet Hotel?
Last Week’s Brainteaser and Answer:
Two objects perform the same task. One as thousands of moving parts while the other has no moving parts. What are they?
Answer:
An hourglass and a sundial.