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CrowdScience

Can we record our senses?

CrowdScience

BBC

Science, Technology

4.8985 Ratings

🗓️ 17 October 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How would you record a special moment? Maybe you could take a photograph, film a little video, or record some audio. We have lots of ways of recording what life LOOKS and SOUNDS like, but is the same true for the other senses? What if you wanted to record the smells that greet you on entering your favourite restaurant? Or record the way your loved ones hand feels in yours?

These are the questions on the mind of listener Aravind, from California in the USA. He wants to know if there are any ways of recording and reproducing sensory experiences like taste and smell, or physical touch.

Anand Jagatia is on the case, and is smelling, tasting, and quite literally FEELING his way to the answer. From a multi-sensory movie experience in Valencia, Spain, to the fascinating history of the pioneers of ‘scented cinema’, through to the ground-breaking “haptic technology” which is enhancing the capabilities of our sense of touch. Both for us, and for the robots which do the jobs we don’t want to.

Presenter: Anand Jagatia

Producer: Emily Knight

Editor: Ben Motley

(Photo: Woman making ASMR sounds with microphone and perfume on yellow background, closeup - stock photo. Credit: Liudmila Chernetska via Getty Images)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.

0:06.1

Can I just say?

0:07.6

You're about to listen to a BBC podcast.

0:10.0

It's such a wonderful listen.

0:11.7

So nice.

0:12.5

There are loads more like it on BBC Sounds.

0:14.8

Different paces, different heights, the roof is buckling.

0:17.9

Where you can also listen to live sports commentary.

0:20.2

It's right foot goes for goal.

0:21.6

Oh!

0:22.7

And then enjoy even more podcasts full of analysis and reaction to the big stories.

0:27.7

The stat that is astonishing is they ended with the lowest amount of possession.

0:31.2

And she's had to live with that.

0:32.8

So if you love sport, a passion, it's almost like a religion.

0:35.8

Listen on BBC Sounds.

0:39.7

Sort of expecting that every week now.

0:50.4

Hello and welcome to crowd science from the BBC World Service. I'm Ann Ann Jagatia and you are just in time for movie night.

0:55.0

We've got popcorn, 3D glasses and a huge TV. But that's not all, because this is a rather special home movie experience.

1:00.0

On the screen in front of me, a battle is raging, complete with explosions and gunfire.

1:07.0

Behind my head, I hear a little machine make a noise.

1:12.9

Oh.

1:14.6

And the room fills up with an unmistakable smell.

...

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