Comments on: The Smells of Space: Burned Steak, Gunpowder, Raspberries

By: David K

David K — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 16:56:24 +0000

Nothing is toxic-only the dose.

By: Alex Ritchie

Alex Ritchie — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 16:39:02 +0000

Responding to watSays -
According to many “experts” damned near EVERYTHING causes cancer..

By: James Tracy

James Tracy — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 22:35:29 +0000

It has to be asked…

…what does Uranus smell like?

WOW! Did I just regress back to fourth grade there? I better review my medication schedule.

By: Gordon T

Gordon T — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 22:14:05 +0000

@ wat:

Not just bacon, but any grilled or otherwise cooked meat can have polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in it. The reason PAHs are carcinogenic is because of their molecular structure; they’re basically polymerized benzene (benzene rings sharing “sides” of the ring with each other), and thus they’re very large and flat. If they get into a cell of the body, they can fit into the spaces between the twists of the DNA helix, “gumming up the works”. That causes replication errors and mutations leading to cancer.

By: John Lerch

John Lerch — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 14:17:24 +0000

I think a more likely origin is outgassing because of the low vapor pressure and the manufacture of exotic compounds by the sun’s UV and x-ray. The 2nd in particular would generate compounds with a burned quality.

By: wat

wat — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 22:35:50 +0000

what, bacon causes cancer?!

By: llp

llp — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 19:29:14 +0000

Hmm… Can you capture some of those hydrocarbons and bring back to earth? Say you run an air compressor long enough in space, will it ultimately generate a positive pressure?

By: totob

totob — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 20:22:02 +0000

must… repress… Futurama… quotes…