This Week in H’burg is a weekly column featuring photos and fun facts from local photographer Pierre Ratté. Each week we’ll feature a new photo from Ratté along with a fact about the subject matter of the photo.
Have you ever noticed, after a rain, outdoor settings smell fresher, better? That’s partly because scents are more easily detected on cool, moist days. Instead of diffusing throughout the air in dry weather, moisture captures scents and ‘holds’ them for us to smell. In the morning, moisture close to the ground aggregates scent molecules. That’s one reason why tracking dogs have their noses to the ground and perform better in the morning. Though, human noses do not have as many receptors as most animals, it is estimated that we can differentiate over 1 Billion different smells. Fun facts: dogs have twice as many odor receptors as humans; cats are 14 times better at detecting odors than humans; and a silk-worm moth can detect one molecule of scent seven miles away.
Pierre Ratté posts a daily picture on Instagram, Facebook and TodayinHburg.com. He can be reached at pj*****@ic****.com. His book “100 Days Sheltering-In-Place” can be purchased at Levin’s and Copperfield’s bookstores, TodayinHburg.com or Amazon.com.
