This program is sponsored by the Covley Prize, which honors scientists for breakthroughs

in astrophysics, nanoscience, and neuroscience.

The Covley Prize is a partnership among the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters,

the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, and the U.S.-based Covley Foundation in Los

Angeles, California.

I'm Alan Olga, and this is Clear and Vivid, conversations about connecting and communicating.

Little bumps, even one 500-diameter of a human hair, you can sense that by running your

finger over it, which is really mind-boggling.

I don't even mentally can imagine that, but at the same time, of course, there is what

we call affective touch, and especially during COVID, we've all appreciated the pleasure

of hugging a friend or a family member that we've missed because of separation.

So this whole idea that you can use it to realize what's going on in your world, but also

it's very strongly attached to our emotional being.

Makes it complicated and very interesting, and a lot of it we still don't understand.

This is Ardampada Poutine.

He discovered how our sense of touch works.

It's the last of our five senses to be understood at the level of molecules, and it turned out

that touch is unique among the senses with a wide range of tasks that include how we know

where our limbs are without looking at them, and the ways in which we respond to pain.

For his discovery, Ardampada Poutine was awarded the Covley Prize in 2020, followed last

year by the Nobel Prize.

This is the second of our special episodes of Clear and Vivid leading up to this year's

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