Better Smelling Through Chemistry

Unintended consequences: Having banned smoking from their festival tents, the organizers of Munich’s Oktoberfest are trying to figure out how to mask the odors previously obscured by cigarettes, including stale beer, food scraps, and doody from the porta-potties. (Also, probably, vomit.) “To fight the putrid smell, some beer tent organizers plan to pour a solution with special bacteria into the floorboards of the tents and other potentially smelly areas, such as the aisles between tables and toilets. They hope that the bacteria, once it seeps into the floor boards, will eat up the offending odors.” I’m telling you people, you’re going to miss us smokers when we’re gone.