Why we consider some smells to be really, really bad.

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Today I was watching a BBC documentary on the sense of smell and why we have it. A man was in the middle of an African dessert and he went and 'visited' animal flesh that had been left to rot in the African son for days and days. It was black and grey and he could hardly talk, the smell was that bad. He explained that if we ate something like that it would potentially be fatal to us because of all the bacteria growing. The smell puts us off it and warns us not to eat it. So bad smells are for our own safety. I thought it was really interesting. Then he agreed to take part in an experiment with some other people. This involved some scientists mixing all undesirable smells together in a beaker. These smells included vomit, rotting flesh and poo among other lovely scents. He was placed in a chair in a room and wore a big mask over his head with a nasal line placed. The smell came through the nasal line right into his head. He was connected to various monitoring equipment as well. Let me just say it was painful to watch. He got up, ripped out the line and ran out of the room within about 20 seconds. Afterwards he said that he was sure crowds could be controlled with a smell like that. I think that would be a better idea than using violence. So what's the worst smell you've ever smelled?