Mind-Blowing Video Shows Why You Love the Smell After the Rain

You're not crazy: the smell after the rain is pretty darn good. A new video from MIT shows why exactly.

Using high-speed cameras, researchers put together a slow-motion visual that explains that when a raindrop makes contact with a porous surface, it traps tiny air bubbles. Those bubbles then shoot upward like fizz, burst into the air, and are carried by the wind. It's the main reason for that nostalgic smell (called petrichor), but it's also how bacteria and viruses spread from the ground.

Mind = blown.