What do autumn leaves smell like

Kids are getting COVID pricks, people are getting out their passports, and vaccination requirements are working. Sign up to receive Popular Science's emails and get the highlights. As these leaves get old and die off in the autumn, they release a sweet smelling compound. Megan E Hansen. Several organisms feed upon this detritus and thrive during autumn, the most familiar being mushrooms.

Mushrooms grow throughout the year but become most plentiful in fall. Mushroom hunters roam the woods gathering chanterelles, champignons and hen-of-the-wood. These popular fungi have subtle earthy smells. Chanterelles, when fresh, have an apricot scent that some say is unmistakable even to blindfolded collectors. Wild mushrooms give off a pungent essence their domesticated cousins have long since lost to hybridization.

There are other autumnal scents that signal the passage of summer into fall. Since the dawn of time, man and fire have been intrinsically linked. Early man would not have survived without the life-giving warmth of fire. Until the advent of the Industrial Revolution, mankind depended on burning wood to stay warm. For many of us, a pile of raked leaves that gives way to a roaring bonfire remains one of our fondest memories of autumn.

Despite the health and environmental issues, a house that smells like wood smoke evokes a primal memory and connection to home. We stand or sit around a fire, mesmerized by the crackle of wood and glow of embers. We roast our oysters and hotdogs, toast our marshmallows, sip hot chocolate, and bask in its warmth. The smoke permeates our hair, skin, and clothes, settling in like long ago memories. Be it a fire pit, wood stove, campfire, or bonfire, all of human history lies within that fragrance.

Our region is blessed with not only deciduous and pine forests but with rich farmland and bountiful waters. For centuries raw oyster lovers have been warned to avoid eating oysters from May through August. Although today scientists say if you buy oysters grown in healthy waters, they can safely be eaten any time of the year. During summer, unrefrigerated oysters spoil quickly. But whether you'd be able to notice it without all the crunchy leaves, Halloween decorations, pumpkin-flavored drinks, and crisp air is seriously debatable.

All Rights Reserved. Open side menu button. The temperature isn't the only thing that changes with the seasons. By Alex Daniel October 3, A journalist based in Brooklyn, New York.

Read more. Smell happens when the receptors in your nose pick up aromatic molecules in the air. These molecules ooze out of objects and living organisms in the environment around you. You smell more aromatic molecules during the summer because hot, muggy air holds more of the molecules and enables them to move through the atmosphere more quickly. The opposite happens when it's cooler and drier in the fall: air molecules contract together and leave less space for odour molecules to move through.

It means we're bombarded with smells in the summer, but are able to better pick out specific scents in the fall. The dominant earthy smells of fall are largely the product of plants hunkering down for the winter. Fallen leaves begin to decay and their sugars and organic compounds in the leaf break down, creating the classic musky-sweet smell of a leaf pile.

Our emotional reaction to any smell comes from the personal meaning we've assigned to the scent — typically stamped on your brain when you're young, sensing smells and forming memories with them for the first time.