Autism

I was telling an ex about smelling my coworker’s fear all day. He had a crush on me (it was a call center, so not an especially professional environment), and we had to share my cubicle for training, and he was just pouring out anxiety sweat. My ex had no idea what the fuck I was talking about and I’ve never met someone else who can identify the emotions that a person has by their sweat.

Saying someone “can smell fear” is a normal thing that comes up a lot in media, so I assumed it was also normal to notice. Apparently not. I’ll take all of the help my autistic ass can get in iding others’ emotions though

They do release formic acid which smells rank. But I've only ever smelled it from a large pile of dead ants. Not a few walking around outside or in a house.

Worst.

X-Men mutation.

Ever.

Can I smell ants? I feel like I would have noticed if I could...

I can smell them when they're dead. Otherwise, not usually?

You have a powerful sense of smell, I sense a powerful smell, we are not the same.

i only found out they had a smell a couple years ago, and i'm in my 30s. not because i can't smell them though, but just because i hadn't noticed it before.

I can only smell those flying ants that come out during the rains. That sweet sticky smell is another type of horror.

They don't smell AWFUL per say, they just have a very particular smell.

Yeah... I can barely smell at all. Even normally strong smells like that of the urine of an unfixed male cat aren't particularly impactful to me. I wouldn't have even considered the potentiality that ants have a distinctive smell in spite of being aware that they use pheromone trails for navigation.

You got me. I snorted ants and now they are tickling my brain

The weird minty smell?

U can taste the ants

tHe SucCuLeNt FlAvOr

Huh didn't know other people couldn't smell ants but for me I find i have to get close and sniff them to get a cent I also get the same cent from dead spiders and I wouldn't call it offensive but it is quite distinct so it gets a huh out of me every time I catch the cent

Yes, it's known that humans have individually different sets of smell (and taste) receptors. So it wouldn't surprise me that some people would be able to smell ant trail/nest pheromones and the like. I'd guess it has less to do with formic acid though, as they do not regularly release that (it's used mainly for defense). Some people may be really triggered by the smell of certain flowers while most people would barely notice them. I my self recently developed a sensitivity to some certain chemical that appears to be in many cleaning agents, and it's very disturbing to find that disgusting smell in so many public places, dishwashing detergents, hair shampoos.

This phenomenon comes apparent a lot with foods and spices. My great example is coriander (cilantro): half of the people like the herb but for the rest it has a soapy taste so much that any food that contains coriander leaves is spoilt for them. Coriander seeds however, do not contain that specific compound. I'm one who can't stand the herb but very much likes the seeds as a spice.

Related and very interesting is also, is individually different bouquets of mating pheromones which are also present in humans (but perception is mostly subliminary). Those are connected to individual genetic sets of the immune system, a place where genetic variability and mixing is of great advantage. We choose our partners by (being able to) smell, more than we are aware of.

Infodump? ... Infodump.

But... How do you even know you can smell ants? Why did you try it? Or can you smell them from meters away?

I've always been able to smell them. I can't believe there are people out there who can't. My world has been rocked.