{"id":21131,"date":"2015-06-08T17:39:12","date_gmt":"2015-06-08T21:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?p=21131"},"modified":"2015-06-12T09:36:57","modified_gmt":"2015-06-12T13:36:57","slug":"ants-that-smell-like-blue-cheese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/ants-that-smell-like-blue-cheese\/","title":{"rendered":"Ants That Smell Like Blue Cheese!"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you can\u2019t seem to get the smell of last night\u2019s dinner<\/a> out of your nose, it might not just be the leftovers in the fridge. According to a new study<\/a> by Dr. Clint Penick of North Carolina State University, the common odorous house ant (Tapinoma sessile<\/i>) emits a smell most similar to blue cheese. Which is nothing short of groundbreaking for those of us still trying to track down that stray scent in our kitchens.<\/p>\n

The study was conducted at the 2013 North Carolina Bug Fest (where you can not only smell bugs, but eat them too<\/a>). A sample of 143 insect enthusiasts identified the scent as either \u201crotten coconut,\u201d \u201cblue cheese,\u201d \u201crancid butter,\u201d or \u201cother,\u201d which allowed them to write in a smell. Blue cheese was the winner, with 38%. Of those write-in candidates, the study\u2019s authors mention that one girl suggested that the ants smell like her doctor.<\/p>\n

The scientists didn\u2019t leave it there\u2014after analyzing the smelliest compounds in blue cheese and the ants, methyl-ketones seemed to be the culprit. Although coconut doesn\u2019t have these stinky ketone groups, the mold that grew when Penick buried one in his back yard did. In fact, the Penicilliium<\/i> microbes used to give blue cheese its characteristic color were the same ones responsible for the mold. We don\u2019t recommend putting them on your burger, though.<\/p>\n

For Penick, this was a victory. He had always been frustrated by T. sessile<\/i>\u2019s inability to live up to its internet reputation as the \u201ccoconut ant.\u201d Finally, with the help of bug enthusiasts, he had disproven another internet rumor.<\/p>\n

You might notice this blue cheese smell a little more if you live in an urban area. In a study done last year<\/a>, odorous ants were found to develop \u201csuper-colonies\u201d in cities. We\u2019ll have to wait for the future sci-fi hit Invasion of the Cheese-Ants<\/em>. Until then, you should probably call an exterminator and become an expert on blue cheese<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Feature Photo Credit: blue cheese + “ants on a white background”<\/a> by BERNATSKAYA OXANA<\/a> | Shutterstock<\/a><\/em><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Study shows that a common household pest might make your house stink like a certain cheese.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":21135,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"coauthors":[805],"class_list":["post-21131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cheese-bites"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAnts That Smell Like Blue Cheese! - culture: the word on cheese<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/ants-that-smell-like-blue-cheese\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ants That Smell Like Blue Cheese!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Study shows that a common household pest might make your house stink like a certain cheese.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/ants-that-smell-like-blue-cheese\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"culture: the word on cheese\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-08T21:39:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-06-12T13:36:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/AntsBlueCheese_ftr.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"368\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Robbie Herbst\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Robbie Herbst\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/ants-that-smell-like-blue-cheese\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/ants-that-smell-like-blue-cheese\/\",\"name\":\"Ants That Smell Like Blue Cheese! 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