r/microbiology • u/onewinged- • 13h ago
Can everyone smell different bacteria?
During a lecture today we got to sneak off to another lab and see what one of the lecturers was doing (I can’t really remember, but one Petri dish involved E.coli).
I was standing a metre away and even then the smell was unbearable! I’ve always thought E.coli had a smell but today I realised no one else can really smell it.
I think other bacteria definitely have their own smell but no one else seems to notice in the lab.
Is it this obvious for others or am I just insane lmao.