The other night, my spouse, who is an academic in the field of plant biology, made me watch an episode of the show Modern Marvels about “Stink” on H2 (or history to the deuce as I like to call it). She was excited to see the footage of the Titan Arum (Corpse Plant) which bloomed in the University of Illinois’ Plant Biology Greenhouse last summer. Unfortunately for us, the Titan footage didn’t come until near the end of the show. In the meantime we got to learn about the putrid smells emited by cesspools, garbage dumps, rotting food and rivers of feces. Much to my delight, they chose to show shots of animals relieving themselves over and over again.
Luckily for you, the show is now available online and you can skip right to the Titan Arum part after you watch a couple of commercials: http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/videos/modern-marvels-stink#modern-marvels-stink.
The U of I footage takes place at 31:40. It features several people smelling the flower, including a boy who describes the odor as a mix between “a corpse and fart.” Then there is a brief snippet with excellent U of I Professor David Seigler, who was probably interviewed for close to thirty minutes to get his two seconds of air time.
The rest of the show is all just shit (literally and figuratively).