This is scientific American 60 Second Science.

I'm Christopher in D'Artata. Got a minute?

Body odor. The smell of B.O. is unmistakable.

And the culprit behind that signature stench is a molecule called thio alcohol.

Our noses are so attuned to it we can pick up quantities as small as one part per trillion.

But here's the mystery.

How does that stinky substance get there in the first place?

Well, it turns out bacteria named Staphylococcus hominus is the major perpetrator,

along with a few of its relatives. Their genes code for enzymes that snip the molecules in our sweat to pieces,

creating the offensive thio-alcohols,

along with bits of food for the bacteria.

Because hey, bacteria got to eat too.

When innocuous E. coli bacteria were given the genes that our B.O. perpetrators have naturally,

they too could achieve the stank.

These findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Society for General Microbiology in Birmingham in the UK.

Not surprisingly, this work was partially funded by Unilever, because now that we've identified these microbial targets,

the researchers say, it might be possible to design

more effective deodorants, which, instead of crippling

all underarm bacteria, dispatch only the most dastardly denizens.

Smells like profit to me.

Thanks for the minute.

For Scientific Americans 60 Second Science, I'm Christopher Intagiatin.

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