Museum of Science and Industry

Ahh, who doesn’t love the smell of old books? Well, maybe a lot of people. Old books smell a little funky because they are made of paper and other organic materials – and organic things rot! Preserving or appropriately storing a treasured book can take finding out the composition of its paper – a process which traditionally requires burning it. In order to not have to destroy the very artifacts that we are trying to preserve, scientists based in London and Slovenia have worked together to create equipment able to "sniff" the volatile chemicals released by old paper in order to find out its makeup.

Why do old books smell? [Maniraptora on nature.com blogs]

Video via Maniraptora