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Outside/In

The fifth sense

Outside/In

NHPR

Society & Culture, Documentary, Natural Sciences, Nature, Science

4.71.5K Ratings

🗓️ 8 August 2024

⏱️ 31 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Once again, it’s that wonderful time when scientists everywhere hold their breath as the team opens the Outside/Inbox to answer listener questions about the natural world. Today’s theme is smell: how it works in the nose, the mind, and how much is still unknown about the fifth sense. Question 1: Does it gross you out to know that every time you smell something, a little bit of that thing… is in your nose? What happens to the molecules we smell? Question 2: Why do smells have such a powerful connection to memory? Question 3: How do pheromones work in humans? Do ‘ideal mates’ really ‘smell better’ to us? Question 4: Why does the smell of florals sometimes precede a migraine? Question 5: What’s anosmia? Featuring Rachel Herz, Bob Datta, Katie Boetang, and Tristram Wyatt, with thanks to Stephanie Hunter.     Outside/In seeks your questions for an upcoming Outside/Inbox.   What questions should the Outside/In team explore about the U.S. presidential election? What do you want to know about what this election means for climate change or environmental regulation? Maybe you’ve got questions about Project 2025, or maybe you’re curious about presidential transitions more generally. You can send your questions to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a voicemail on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER.   SUPPORT Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member.  Subscribe to our newsletter for occasional emails about new show swag, call-outs for listener submissions, and other announcements. Follow Outside/In on Instagram or Twitter, or join our private discussion group on Facebook.   LINKS Rachel Herz is the author of several books, including “Why You Eat What You Eat” and “The Scent of Desire.” Tristram Wyatt is the author of “Pheromones and Animal Behavior.” Katie Boetang hosts The Smell Podcast. More on the connections between smell, memory, emotion, and health, featuring Bob Datta and Herz. In the 1990s, one company claimed to have found human sex pheromones and tried to market them for use in perfumes. Research on the connection between olfactory loss and depression, smell triggers for migraines, and an explanation of how COVID-19 causes loss of smell.   CREDITS Outside/In host: Nate Hegyi Reported, produced, and mixed by Justine Paradis, Catherine Hurley, and Felix Poon, with help from Marina Henke. Edited by Taylor Quimby NHPR’s Director of Podcasts is Rebecca Lavoie Music by Daniel Fridell, Caro Luna, Lofive, bomull, Jahzarr, Mindme, and John B. Lund.  Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Oh, hey Nate.

0:02.0

Justine.

0:03.0

Hello, hello.

0:04.0

So I recently heard about a really interesting experiment that I would like to share with you and

0:09.5

this podcast.

0:10.5

May I?

0:11.5

Okay. Yes, I'm all ears. All right, so this experiment is about the

0:15.3

suggestability of perception and specifically our sense of smell and it was

0:21.0

conducted by someone named Rachel Hers.

0:24.0

So my name is Rachel Hers.

0:25.4

I am a neuroscientist and I have been studying the psychological science of scent

0:29.7

for over 30 years.

0:31.6

So what Rachel did is she gathered a group of people to be her

0:35.1

test subjects and in the first session she'd present them with five different

0:40.1

smells. For each one she'd give them a label for what they were smelling.

0:44.3

And in one case I presented to you and I say this is Parmesan cheese and you go,

0:49.1

oh yeah I really like this, I would eat it, it's very familiar, etc.

0:54.1

But then she brought the same participants back for a second session about a week

0:59.2

later. She'd hand them a jar with the exact same scent,

1:04.0

except this time she'd tell them that the source of the smell

1:07.9

was a different thing.

1:09.5

And now I say this is vomit.

...

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