Air Apparent

Big Picture Science

Science, Technology

4.5 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 22 October 2018

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

(Repeat) Whether you yawn, gasp, sniff, snore, or sigh, you’re availing yourself of our very special atmosphere. It’s easy to take this invisible chemical cocktail for granted, but it’s not only essential to your existence: it unites you and every other life form on the planet, dead or alive. The next breath you take likely includes molecules exhaled by Julius Caesar or Eleanor Roosevelt. And for some animals, air is an information superhighway. Dogs navigate with their noses. Their sniffing snouts help them to identify their owners, detect trace amounts of drugs, and even sense some diseases. Find out what a dog’s nose knows, and why no amount of bathing and dousing in perfume can mask your personal smelliness. Plus, why your own schnoz is key to not only enjoying a fine Bordeaux, but to survival of our species. Guests: Sam Kean – Science writer, author of “Caesar’s Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us” Alexandra Horowitz – Dog cognition researcher, Barnard College, author of “Being A Dog: Following the Dog Into a World of Smell” Rachel Herz – Cognitive neuroscientist, Brown University, author of “Why You Eat What You Eat,” and “The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell” Ken Givich – Microbiologist, Guittard Chocolate company Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to an Airwave Media Podcast.
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0:26.4	or lowercase.
0:27.5	That's Shopify. co-de-ek slash special offer.
0:32.2	Tech moves fast so keep pace with the daily crunch podcast from Tech
0:38.0	crunch with new episodes every day this podcast will give you a quick overview on everything you need and should
0:44.9	know about startups new tech regulations and more listen to Tech Crunch
0:50.7	Daily Crunch now wherever you get your podcasts that's Tech Crunch Daily Crunch Now, wherever you get your podcasts.
0:54.3	That's Tech Crunch Daily Crunch,
0:56.6	wherever you get your podcasts. The air of the early earth was not inviting and that's an understatement.
1:16.0	It was mainly hot, noxious gas spewing from volcanoes that had you been around
1:21.0	would have burnt your lungs to a crisp if it didn't suffocate
1:24.1	you first good times but when the earth cooled the fumes dissipated life as we know
1:29.5	it could get a start two billion years, oxygen made its appearance, along with animals that could
1:35.2	breathe it. The air that was once packed with poisonous gas could now percolate with pleasant
1:40.8	aromas if we take the time to smell them.
1:44.0	I smell the turkey and I smell salt and I smell the fennel just because I was just eating fennel.
	...

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