Geosmin
File sealed
The detectives are still writing this one up. The poster and the facts are below; the film and the interrogation room open soon.
Booking photographs
The suspect, from its real atomic coordinates. Drag to turn it. Height chart in nanometers, ruled every 0.05 nm. About 100,000 of them end to end would span the width of a human hair.
Rap sheet
- Answers to
- Geosmin. You know it by its smell.
- Height
- 0.72 nm. Compact.
- Weight
- 0.30 zeptograms
- Build
- Two rings joined along one side. Stocky.
- Smell
- Rain on dry soil. Beets. Most noses catch ten parts per trillion.
- Habits
- Made by soil bacteria to lure springtails, which leave carrying their spores.
- Weakness
- Loses its smell in acid.
- Last seen
- A 5 mL tube marked BEET in the fridge at HQ. Mostly in the skin.
of them in one small raw beet, skin on. Beets vary.
You’ve never seen one. You’ve smelled plenty.
The poster on the street
This is the photocopied wanted poster for Geosmin, No. 3. They were made for noticeboards around Boston, Cambridge and the rest of the east coast.
Found one? Scan its QR code with your phone. If you're a signed-in player, the sighting goes on your record with +1 XP.
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