Hi. I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy V. Wilson, and we're the co hosts of Stuff You Missed in History Class. We are a history podcast that tries to look at the things that maybe we're overlooked in your history classes, maybe not covered in as much detail, or frankly, maybe covered in a way that was not accurate. New episodes come out every Monday and Wednesday on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify,
or anywhere else that podcasts can be listened to. Hey, everybody, I'm going to assume that if you're listening to this podcast that you like knowledge, right, That's probably why you're listening. That's why I'm recording it. So I'm excited to tell you about a new source for knowledge, the Great Courses Plus video learning service. You can learn about anything that interests you with unlimited access to over seven thousand video lectures on fascinating topics from science to history, even about
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from how Stuff Works. Hey there, brain stuff gang. I'm Christian Seger, and have you ever been to the gas station before filling up your gelope when suddenly your nostril hairs twings with an aromatic burning sensation. It's like the wise sages of Leonard Skinner'd once saying, oh that smell. Can't you smell that smell? I'm talking about gasoline, people, Why does it smell so good? Well, the first answer
is pretty simple. Actually, gasoline or petrol, as our friends across the pond like to call it, contains a chemical hydrocarbon called benzene used to boost its octane rating, and benzine naturally has a sweet scent to it that our noses are specially sensitive to. In fact, it evaporates so quickly that you'd smell benzene instantly if you just put some in a dish in the same room you're in. It is so pungent we can get a whiff of it if there's only one to five parts per million
in the air we breathe. And benzine is not just in gasoline. We use it in plastics, pesticides, and detergents. It's also in a lot of mass produced toys, so it's possible you're associating the smell of gasoline with that new toys smell from your childhood. But don't let it odor get its enchanting hooks and you too far. Because skinnerd also had it right when they saying, oh, that smell, the smell of death surrounds you. That's right. The smell
of benzine can be euphoric, but it's also toxic. If you inhale large amounts of it, it actually attacks your nervous system. Luckily, it's so pungent that we have plenty of warning before hazardous exposure. That's why it can start to make you nauseous or give you a headache after a while. And the consequences of sniffing too much. Benzine and gasoline are not pretty. Inhalent abuse leads to loss of consciousness, seizures, liver injury, and distress within your heart
and lungs. Keep going after that and you're looking at neurological impairment and straight up brain damage. The E. P. A. Osha and Who also categorized benzine as a carcinogen. The cancers it's associated with the most are leukemia and lymphoma. And get this, there's possibly another, less dangerous reason why we like the smell of gasoline so much. A study published in two thousand nine issue of Addiction Research and Theory indicates that gasoline smells better to us when we're hungry.
It found that people rate the smell of gasoline as being more pleasant and intense the longer it had been since they had last eaten. More research is obviously required, but there seems to be a link between our degree of hunger and our odor perception of gasoline. Maybe that's why gas stations make such a killing on selling junk food. Check out the brain stuff channel on YouTube, and for more on this and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com.