Scientists Discover That Uranus Smells Like Rotten Eggs (space.com) 76
An anonymous reader writes: According to a study published in Nature Astronomy, scientists have determined that the atmosphere of Uranus smells like rotten eggs. The smell of Uranus was determined by the use of an Near-Infrared Integral Field Spectrometer (NIFS), an instrument that allows scientists to determine what an atmosphere is composed of based upon the reflections of sunlight that bounce off of it. Specifically, the clouds in Uranus' upper atmosphere consist of hydrogen sulfide, the molecule that makes rotten eggs so stinky. "If an unfortunate human were ever to descend through Uranus' clouds, they would be met with very unpleasant and odiferous conditions," study lead author Patrick Irwin, of Oxford University in England, said in a statement. But that wayward pioneer would have bigger problems, he added: "Suffocation and exposure in the negative 200 degrees Celsius [minus 328 degrees Fahrenheit] atmosphere, made of mostly hydrogen, helium, and methane, would take its toll long before the smell."
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"Uranus Smells Like Rotten Eggs" is much less puerile than how a bunch of other news outlets are running this story. They're going with "Uranus Smells Like Farts".
Obligatory Futurama clip (Score:3, Funny)
Astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all [youtube.com].
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Honestly, I saw this story yesterday in at least a half a dozen major news outlets, and it was all variations on a theme.
The reality is, the Uranus jokes write themselves, and I'm pretty sure the scientists gave them a nudge in that direction.
What better way to get your real scientific research widely covered than allowing for the most puerile humour to drive it around the web?
Un-clench. Don't be so anal about it.
Re: Who submitted this? (Score:3)
Look at all the /.'ers acting like fifth-graders and giving the site their ad impressions. The audience has made the site into what it's become.
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I'm sorry but if you can't even laugh at Uranus jokes, the problem isn't the site populous, it's you.
Shouldn't have to be said but here goes:
"Nobody is forcing you to read them."
It's done (Score:1)
So Professor Farnsworth finally built his smelloscope.
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Oh my (Score:5, Funny)
The amount of jokes stemming from this article is endless.
Still, cool science, quite literally.
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Science which spawns jokes is good science.
http://dilbert.com/strip/1994-... [dilbert.com]
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There's still gaps in our knowledge, but hopefully the scientists can get to the bottom of it. I hope they're not tooting their own horn prematurely, that would be shitty because they'd just make asses of themselves and be the butt of jokes.
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Calling it "urinous" [merriam-webster.com] has its own problems, though.
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Is that problem #1 or problem #2?
Re:Black holes (Score:5, Informative)
Patrick Moore used to avoid this problem by pronouncing it your-uh-nuss, with the stress on the first syllable.
The original pronunciation of the name of the planet's eponymous Greek god almost undoubtedly was "oo-ran-os" (with the stress on the initial syllable), rather than "your-uh-nuss." The latter pronunciation is an artifact of British public school conventions, not authentic, classical Greek ones. (The Brits tend to Romanize both the English spelling and pronunciation of Greek words in general, and names in particular ... )
Pronounciation ... (Score:2)
Right.
It is also Ubuntu = Ooh-boon-tu, not You-buntu.
And many of the C things are actually K, Kephalos = Cephalus, Cetus = Kaitos, ...etc.
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Almost correct. The Greek pronunciation would be "oo-rah-NOS" with the stress on the last syllable.
Perhaps also "oy-rah-NOS" in early Classical or pre-Classical (AFAIK we are not very sure when diphthongs started being pronounced they way they are in Koine Greek for example).
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In response to my statement:
The original pronunciation of the name of the planet's eponymous Greek god almost undoubtedly was "oo-ran-os" (with the stress on the initial syllable), rather than "your-uh-nuss."
Ecuador replied:
Almost correct. The Greek pronunciation would be "oo-rah-NOS" with the stress on the last syllable. Perhaps also "oy-rah-NOS" in early Classical or pre-Classical (AFAIK we are not very sure when diphthongs started being pronounced they way they are in Koine Greek for example).
You may be correct. The fact is that we do not know how the Greeks of the Hellenic period pronounced the word - much less the earlier, Helladic pronunciation. And how the aboriginal inhabitants of the Attic peninsula (whose god Uranos most likely was) pronounced it, before the Doric invasion syncretized their chthonic deities with the invaders' aero-montane pantheon to create the mythic menagerie presented most famously in Hesiod's Theogeny is pretty much anybody'
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NIFS? (Score:2, Insightful)
Why didn't they make the acronym SNIF?
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When they say Uranus smells like that, who's exactly?
Well, I am exactly. Aren't you?
No it smells of nothing (Score:5, Interesting)
If the H2S concentration is high enough to mask some of the composition on the underlying layers it would most certainly paralise your sense of smell instantly, something that happens as low as 100ppm concentrations.
Uranus smells of nothing. Which frankly is far more plesant than most jokes would suggest.
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It's odd that the Oxford scholars didn't mention the toxicity of hydrogen sulfide, but mention suffocation from inhalation of methane and the effects of low temperatures. Although the odor can be detected at very minute concentrations, (around 0.000047 ppm) it's about as poisonous as cyanide at about 360 ppm. Suppression of the sense of smell doesn't happen instantaneously, and many deaths have occurred because victims who noticed the odor thought the gas had dissipated when they could no longer smell it.
Re:No it smells of nothing (Score:4, Informative)
But I guess saying Uranus smells like a bag of farts is more entertaining than actual science.
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"But I guess saying Uranus smells like a bag of farts is more entertaining than actual science."
Agreed. I smell fake news.
Hmm (Score:4, Funny)
Depends what I ate.
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It sure does! (Score:2)
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Are you mean? I dump a lot during the mornings after I wake up too to prove. :D
Maybe (Score:2)
Smells like ... (Score:2)
It's just a Rumour (Score:1)
BeauHD and msmash (Score:1)
Two editors, one shark.
Who can jump it better?
Sense of smell (Score:2)
I'm pretty sure my sense of smell doesn't function at -200 C.
Juvenile (Score:2)
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Joke of 2621: "Damn you scientists! I had great jokes about the planet, but Urectum."
Joke Comes True, News at 11 (Score:1)
Uranus smells like your anus. Who wouldda thought.
Reminds me of a joke (Score:2)
Something about a game warden and ducks....