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This week’s new questions

When a smell disappears from an unventilated room, where has it gone? Is it possible to be ambidexterous for feet?

25 March 2026

Shutterstock/CatherineScarlett

When you leave an unventilated room that has a strong smell in it and return sometime later, the smell has gone. But where did it go?

Derek Johnson
Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, UK

 

Lighthouse Films/Getty Images

Is there an equivalent of being ambidextrous for feet?

Peter Slessenger
Reading, Berkshire, UK

 

Last Word is Âé¶¹´«Ã½’s long-running series in which readers give scientific answers to each other’s questions, ranging from the minutiae of everyday life to absurd astronomical hypotheticals. To answer a question or ask a new one, email lastword@newscientist.com

To answer this question – or ask a new one – email lastword@newscientist.com.

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