Though we may not have one single way of describing the smell of a decomposing human body, we do know that dead human smell is unique. Even though our untrained noses aren’t likely to make that fine a distinction, researchers have found that humans have a “singular chemical cocktail,” our own eau de decomp. Of the smelly compounds found in putrefaction gas, eight compounds give us humans our own special stink. Well, not 100 percent “our own” or “special,” as pigs have those compounds, too.
