How do flowers get their smells?

Brains On! Science podcast for kids

Lemonada Media

Kids & Family, Education For Kids

4.5 • 14.7K Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2026

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Flowers are famous for their smells. Most are sweet, but a few are downright stinky. Either way, the science of how and why they make these scents is fascinating. Join Molly and co-host Isla as they learn about pollinators, flower smells and the mighty corpse flower! Plus a smell for your ears: the Mystery Sound! Guest: Dr Kelsey Byers, evolutionary chemical ecologist and group leader at the John Innes Center. Want to support the show? Join Smarty Pass to listen to ad-free episodes or donate! Want to see Brains On live?!? We are probably coming to a city near you. For a complete list of shows and links to tickets head to our events page. More shows announced soon! March 7 - Turner Hall Ballroom, Milwaukee, WI March 8 - Fitzgerald Theater, St. Paul, MN March 28 - Center Stage, Atlanta, GA March 29 - Amaturo Theater, Fort Lauderdale, FL April 11 - Walker Theater, Chattanooga, TN April 12 - Carolina Theater, Durham, NC April 25 - Marines Memorial, San Francisco, CA April 26 - Newmark Theater, Portland, OR May 30 - Electric City, Buffalo, NY May 31 - Royal Theatre, Toronto, ON Click here for an episode transcript See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, friends. You might have heard that Bark Sandin and I are on the road this spring with Brains on Live. We've been to several cities so far, and it has been so much fun. Our next two stops are Atlanta and Fort Lauderdale. That's at the end of March. And then we just announced that we added Lawrence, Kansas in May, and Columbus, Ohio in June.
0:26.9	We're also heading to Chattanooga, Durham, Milwaukee, Portland, Buffalo, and Ann Arbor, Michigan.
0:34.6	We hope you'll be able to join us at one of those shows.
0:36.9	We can't wait to see you.
0:38.3	To get tickets and get more information,
0:40.3	you can head to brainson.org
0:42.7	slash events.
0:44.1	That's brainson.org slash events.
0:49.6	Brains on Universe.
0:55.9	You're listening to Brainzoma,
0:57.9	we're serious about being curious.
1:02.0	Noses exist for lots of reasons.
1:03.5	They help us breathe.
1:05.2	Mine, hold up my glasses.
1:07.5	I like to try and wiggle mine.
1:13.1	But one of a nose's most important jobs is to smell stuff. Maybe that's why noses love roses. Roses are actually one of the most complex smell mixtures we know of. Some studies
1:20.1	by scientists like me have shown that roses can make up to 200 different smell chemicals in their
1:27.4	smell.
1:28.3	Roses and other flowers aren't pumping out those pretty perfumes for us though.
1:32.3	It's for bugs and birds.
1:34.3	And some flowers make a stink so strong
1:36.3	or make you wish your nose had an off button.
	...

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