1 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:06,559 Speaker 1: You're listening to Part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope 2 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:12,320 Speaker 1: and iHeartRadio. Guess what will? 3 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 2: What's that mango mug? 4 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:15,560 Speaker 1: You smell that mug? 5 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:19,479 Speaker 2: Mug like a mug of coffee or hot chocolate or 6 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:23,000 Speaker 2: something like that. No, just like pure mug. Can't you 7 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:25,960 Speaker 2: smell that? It's like such a strong mug. I'm not 8 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:28,520 Speaker 2: sure what's happening here. I can't smell just an empty 9 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:30,120 Speaker 2: ceramic mug, can you? 10 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:34,159 Speaker 1: Of course, this place is fragrant with mug right now. 11 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:38,640 Speaker 2: I don't know that I've ever smelled mug. What's wrong 12 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:38,920 Speaker 2: with me? 13 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:42,680 Speaker 1: So nothing? Everyone smells different stuff. It turns out our 14 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:45,680 Speaker 1: sense of smell is so complex that there's about a 15 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:49,360 Speaker 1: thirty percent difference between what I smell, which is mug, 16 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:52,159 Speaker 1: and what you smell, which is nothing right now. But 17 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:55,320 Speaker 1: on top of that, new sensor being introduced into our 18 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:58,880 Speaker 1: environment all the time, and other sensor disappearing. 19 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:02,160 Speaker 2: What do you mean, sensor disappearing like going extinct or something. 20 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:07,240 Speaker 1: Yeah, sometimes there are flowers that don't exist anymore. Civilization evolves, 21 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: but the case of the disappearing sense is a little 22 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: more complicated. And that's something I thought we could tackle today. 23 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:16,759 Speaker 2: I love it. I find that super interesting. So let's 24 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:40,360 Speaker 2: dig in. Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome to Part Time Genius. 25 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:42,720 Speaker 2: I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my 26 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:46,760 Speaker 2: good friend Mangesha Ticketer and sitting behind that great big booth. 27 00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:49,640 Speaker 2: Oh wow, I was wondering what he was going to 28 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 2: do there. So for all of our listeners, we have 29 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:56,279 Speaker 2: this gigantic whiteboard that rotates. You know, I can flip 30 00:01:56,360 --> 00:02:00,440 Speaker 2: to the other side. And usually Dylan is pretty humble 31 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:02,800 Speaker 2: and sort of subtle about what he does, but I 32 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 2: could tell he was very excited, and right as I 33 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:08,560 Speaker 2: went into this, he flipped the board and there is 34 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:13,680 Speaker 2: the most accurate, anatomically drawn picture of a note. I mean, 35 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:19,560 Speaker 2: we were talking brazen natural that artist or medical student, no, 36 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:21,880 Speaker 2: and that big of a show off. He was really 37 00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:24,959 Speaker 2: in this for the big reveal. But anyway, let's dive 38 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:28,639 Speaker 2: in mango. What can you tell me about disappearing smells? 39 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:31,920 Speaker 2: Let's get right into it. To understand why certain smells 40 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:35,160 Speaker 2: have disappeared, we need a little primer on the science 41 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:39,360 Speaker 2: of smell because it is super complex. So let's compare 42 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:42,359 Speaker 2: smell to the way we see light. Scientists figured out 43 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:45,640 Speaker 2: in the nineteenth century that all the varied hues from 44 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:48,960 Speaker 2: red to violet are produced by just three types of 45 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:53,240 Speaker 2: receptors in human retinas. But the nose, or rather the 46 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:57,239 Speaker 2: clump of sensory neurons that are high inside your nostrils, 47 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:02,839 Speaker 2: boasts about four hundred receptors, which is obviously way more complex. 48 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:06,400 Speaker 2: In two thousand and four, Richard Axel and Linda Buck 49 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:09,800 Speaker 2: were award the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 50 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:14,000 Speaker 2: discovering that on these receptors there are genes that encode them, 51 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:17,160 Speaker 2: and these genes sit on top of specialized neurons which 52 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 2: shoot information down leggy axons into the brain, eventually landing 53 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,640 Speaker 2: on one of two olfactory bulbs. And this is where 54 00:03:25,639 --> 00:03:28,960 Speaker 2: the smells are processed. But here's the thing, we don't 55 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:33,720 Speaker 2: actually know which smells those receptors recognize. All right, So 56 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:36,280 Speaker 2: I'm scribbling down some notes here. You know, I'm a 57 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:38,840 Speaker 2: pretty good note taker. So I've got hundreds of receptors 58 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 2: responding to some smells, driven by genetic encoding that sends 59 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:47,200 Speaker 2: those smells down into the old factory bulbs in your brain. 60 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 2: All so you can go, mmmm, saffron, I get that. 61 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:53,360 Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, especially the saffron part. 62 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 2: But nailed it. On top of how your. 63 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 1: Brain receives this information, you know, the input of smells 64 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:04,240 Speaker 1: is much more complex than light. Light is electromagnetic radiation, 65 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:07,800 Speaker 1: and the same three colored receptors can combine to process 66 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:11,880 Speaker 1: a range of wavelengths covering the entire rainbow of visible light. 67 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:15,920 Speaker 1: But smells aren't wavelengths, and they aren't coasting along a 68 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:19,920 Speaker 1: smooth spectrum. They have all a complex mix of chemical particles, 69 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:23,520 Speaker 1: all kind of bobbing around in the air. So, in fact, 70 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:26,279 Speaker 1: there's this twenty fourteen paper, it was in the journal 71 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:30,800 Speaker 1: Science where researchers at Rockefeller University estimated that humans can distinguish, 72 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:34,440 Speaker 1: give or take at least a trillion distinct smells on 73 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:39,159 Speaker 1: planet Earth. Plus all those odor receptors have lots of variants, 74 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:43,040 Speaker 1: like some of them are less sensitive or fully nonfunctional 75 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:45,680 Speaker 1: in large chunks of the population. 76 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:47,479 Speaker 2: Which is whise you were talking about. I guess you 77 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 2: and I have about thirty percent variation between what we 78 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:53,320 Speaker 2: can each smell, Like some of my receptors are more 79 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:55,440 Speaker 2: sensitive than yours and vice versa. 80 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:57,680 Speaker 1: Right, So maybe you walk around smelling all sorts of 81 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:01,239 Speaker 1: stuff that I've never smelled, but you know, additionally, there 82 00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:04,159 Speaker 1: seem to be about six hundred smell pseudogenes. 83 00:05:04,839 --> 00:05:07,960 Speaker 2: Wait, so what's a pseudogene? I mean, I fully know 84 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:10,360 Speaker 2: what a pseudogene is, but I mean for our listeners, 85 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:12,120 Speaker 2: what can you tell them what a pseudogene? 86 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:14,280 Speaker 1: You're right, you had that pseudogen poster over your bed 87 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:18,040 Speaker 1: in college. But where listeners? A pseudogene is a non 88 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:23,200 Speaker 1: functional segment of DNA that resembles functional genes, and scientists 89 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:26,120 Speaker 1: think that they are about six hundred smell pseudogenes that 90 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:29,599 Speaker 1: don't code for working receptors in anybody alive today. 91 00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:32,839 Speaker 2: Oh wow, so it means they just don't work or what? 92 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:36,039 Speaker 1: Yeah? So some researchers take this chunk of dormant DNA 93 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:40,240 Speaker 1: as evidence of the noses terminal decline. But basically the 94 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:42,159 Speaker 1: theory is that we used to be able to smell 95 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:43,960 Speaker 1: stuff that we can't smell anymore. 96 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:47,480 Speaker 2: That is so interesting, And is this nasal decline something 97 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:49,320 Speaker 2: we should be worried about as a species. 98 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:51,880 Speaker 1: I don't think so. I mean, we aren't the only 99 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:56,080 Speaker 1: species that this has happened to. Bottlenosed dolphins and whales 100 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:58,160 Speaker 1: give up a lot of their sense of smell long ago, 101 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:01,160 Speaker 1: possibly to free up headspace for echolocation. 102 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:05,040 Speaker 2: Huh. I mean, but those are both underwater creature. So 103 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:07,719 Speaker 2: why do you think we're losing our precious sense of smell? 104 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:10,200 Speaker 1: Well, I mean there could be a couple of reasons. 105 00:06:10,279 --> 00:06:13,159 Speaker 1: One is evolution, right, like our sense of smell started 106 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:15,920 Speaker 1: roding when we changed the way we select our mates 107 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:20,159 Speaker 1: and prioritizing other factors above scent. That's not tracking for 108 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:22,960 Speaker 1: me because that's actually how I chose my wife, But 109 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:25,920 Speaker 1: either way, go on, Okay. Well, the second is pollution. 110 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:29,719 Speaker 1: So basically, pollution particles can pass through the olfactory bulb 111 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:34,159 Speaker 1: and directly into the brain, causing inflammation. In twenty sixteen, 112 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:37,479 Speaker 1: a team of British researchers found that tiny metal particles 113 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:40,720 Speaker 1: in human brain tissue have appeared to have passed through 114 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:44,359 Speaker 1: the ol factory bulb, which is you know, it's obviously scary. 115 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:46,360 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you know. One thing I was thinking about 116 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:48,160 Speaker 2: just the other day that it's the fact that we 117 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:51,080 Speaker 2: sort of all took the sense of smell for granted 118 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:52,320 Speaker 2: until COVID. 119 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:55,360 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's true. I mean, obviously there are like chunks 120 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:57,479 Speaker 1: of the population who don't have a sense of smell, 121 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 1: but COVID definitely made that concern more mean stream And 122 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:02,520 Speaker 1: you know this happened to me, like I used to 123 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:05,000 Speaker 1: have a much better sense of smell until I had COVID, 124 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:07,360 Speaker 1: and then I haven't fully gotten it back. 125 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:09,200 Speaker 2: M M, yeah, I remember pre COVID used to be 126 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:11,400 Speaker 2: a much better three point shooter. I think something about 127 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 2: COVID just really yeah, gotcha there. But it's so weird, 128 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:18,480 Speaker 2: like we experienced so much through smell, and until you 129 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:21,000 Speaker 2: lose that sense, you kind of take it for granted. 130 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:23,640 Speaker 2: And of course everyone knows smells play a much bigger 131 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:27,120 Speaker 2: role in triggering memories, sort of like Prousd with his part. 132 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:31,640 Speaker 2: You know, I was going to say madelines, but sure 133 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:34,360 Speaker 2: is passing gas too. But when you were talking about 134 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:37,240 Speaker 2: sinse that have disappeared, I was thinking about how they're 135 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:41,240 Speaker 2: scientists actually trying to recreate smells from the past. But 136 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:54,800 Speaker 2: before we get into that, let's take a quick break. 137 00:07:58,000 --> 00:07:59,960 Speaker 1: Welcome back to Part Time Genius, where we're talking about 138 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:03,000 Speaker 1: disappearing sense. So will Before the break, you were telling 139 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:06,080 Speaker 1: us about how scientists have begun to recreate scents from 140 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:10,280 Speaker 1: the past using biomolecular tech, which you know, sounds fascinating. 141 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:13,800 Speaker 2: It really is, all right. So most smells stem from 142 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:18,480 Speaker 2: biological materials. You've got plants, foods, human, animal bodies, all 143 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:22,440 Speaker 2: sorts of biological materials like that, and they decay rapidly, 144 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:25,360 Speaker 2: evaporate into the air, and once the source of the 145 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:28,520 Speaker 2: smell is gone, the smell has disappeared. But if they 146 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:33,080 Speaker 2: are imperceptible biomolecular residues left on these items from the past, 147 00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:36,880 Speaker 2: you think of things like incense burners or perfume bottles, 148 00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:40,240 Speaker 2: cooking pots, food stores, jars, all sorts of things like this. 149 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:45,520 Speaker 2: Scientists can use chromatography to basically decode the smells, and 150 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:48,360 Speaker 2: one German researcher has used some of these residues from 151 00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:52,920 Speaker 2: archaeological artifacts to reconstruct the scent of a five thousand 152 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:56,520 Speaker 2: year old oasis. This was in Saudi Arabia. It's so interesting. 153 00:08:56,720 --> 00:08:59,320 Speaker 1: That's amazing. But I want to walk us through what 154 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:00,800 Speaker 1: chromatogus actually. 155 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:02,840 Speaker 2: I feel like you should explain it, Mango, because I 156 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:05,240 Speaker 2: know what a huge chromatography head you are, so this 157 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:06,160 Speaker 2: is all you. 158 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:09,040 Speaker 1: I mean, I did do a lot of chromatography and 159 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:12,959 Speaker 1: gel electrophoresis and stuff like that. When you know, I 160 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:15,360 Speaker 1: worked in a university lab in high school. But it's 161 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:16,600 Speaker 1: been it's been a while. 162 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:20,440 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been been a minute. But simply put, chromatography 163 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:24,520 Speaker 2: is a process for separating components in a mixture, combined 164 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:28,720 Speaker 2: with mass spectrometry, which can detect different compounds. By calculating 165 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:33,320 Speaker 2: the weight of different molecules, scientists can essentially reverse engineer 166 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:35,880 Speaker 2: the way a perfume smelled, and they do this by 167 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:37,960 Speaker 2: using the molecules left in the bottle. 168 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:42,280 Speaker 1: So then you could like potentially buy a perfume and 169 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:43,679 Speaker 1: smell like an ancient. 170 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:47,120 Speaker 2: Egyptian, not just any ancient Egyptian, you could actually smell 171 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:48,880 Speaker 2: like Cleopatra herself. 172 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:50,040 Speaker 1: What that's insane? 173 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:53,959 Speaker 2: Yeah, I know. Cleopatra wore a perfume called mendagean and 174 00:09:54,080 --> 00:09:58,559 Speaker 2: sometimes referred to as the chanelle number five of ancient Egypt. 175 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:03,480 Speaker 2: And amazingly, the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and documents describe recipes 176 00:10:03,559 --> 00:10:07,960 Speaker 2: for several perfumes, including this one, but the precise ingredients 177 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:11,840 Speaker 2: and preparation methods those aren't quite as well known. So 178 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:15,360 Speaker 2: this egyptologist named Dora Goldsmith and a historian of Greco 179 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:19,720 Speaker 2: Roman philosophy and science named Sean Coughlin they started experimenting 180 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:22,480 Speaker 2: with the ingredients. They were looking at things like desert 181 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:27,680 Speaker 2: dat oil, mr cinnamon pine resin, and they eventually produced 182 00:10:27,679 --> 00:10:31,680 Speaker 2: the scent that they suspect approximates what Cleopatra wore. Is 183 00:10:31,679 --> 00:10:36,079 Speaker 2: this very strong, but pleasant, long lasting blend of spiciness 184 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:39,840 Speaker 2: and sweetness. Apparently, it's pretty cool they were able to recreate. 185 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:42,800 Speaker 1: This, which you know, is fascinating, but it sounds a 186 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:45,160 Speaker 1: little more like trial and error of using a recipe 187 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:48,000 Speaker 1: rather than just going back to the molecules, right. 188 00:10:48,679 --> 00:10:51,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean there are two distinct methods. The EU 189 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:55,640 Speaker 2: funded project ODOROPA puts it like this, if you're working 190 00:10:55,679 --> 00:10:59,200 Speaker 2: from a historical recipe, as the Cleopatric perfume people did 191 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:04,680 Speaker 2: recreating a scent, now, if you're using chemical analysis techniques 192 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:09,240 Speaker 2: of actual ancient scent molecules, you are then quote reconstructing it. 193 00:11:09,679 --> 00:11:14,520 Speaker 2: So researchers at ODOROPA have even created this heritage smell 194 00:11:14,600 --> 00:11:19,600 Speaker 2: library that documents historically significant smells. Oh wow, they've yeah, 195 00:11:19,600 --> 00:11:22,400 Speaker 2: they've reproduced the smell of the library at Saint Paul's 196 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:26,560 Speaker 2: Cathedral in London of potpourri from the seventeen fifties and 197 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:28,880 Speaker 2: even Royal car p five. 198 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:31,839 Speaker 1: B Royal car P. Five B. What is that? 199 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:35,320 Speaker 2: That would be the car used by Queen Elizabeth the second. 200 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:38,160 Speaker 2: So they were able to reconstruct the smellscape of the 201 00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:40,600 Speaker 2: interior based on this analytical data. 202 00:11:40,840 --> 00:11:44,080 Speaker 1: That is so weird. I really hope that long after 203 00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:46,480 Speaker 1: I'm dead, no one tries to reconstruct the scent of 204 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:47,840 Speaker 1: our prius. 205 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:48,400 Speaker 2: Because that would be all. 206 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:53,800 Speaker 1: But how exactly do they capture these, you know, historic scents. 207 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:58,319 Speaker 2: Well, according to this one researcher, Cecilia Bimbibra, she uses 208 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:01,600 Speaker 2: a method called the headspace technie where she places an 209 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:05,680 Speaker 2: object inside a clean sealed bag, has this valve on it, 210 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:09,000 Speaker 2: and then they seal the volatile organic compounds. These are 211 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:11,840 Speaker 2: the things that actually make up the odor. Then she 212 00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:15,480 Speaker 2: inserts an absorbent carbon fiber into the valve to soak 213 00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:19,400 Speaker 2: up the ambient compounds that have been isolated inside, and 214 00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:23,080 Speaker 2: once the carbon fiber is all loaded up with organic compounds, 215 00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:26,880 Speaker 2: she runs it through a gas chromatographer. In the end, 216 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:31,160 Speaker 2: it gives her this sort of electocardiogram, but really more 217 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:33,760 Speaker 2: for smells, I guess, which she can use to identify 218 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:35,640 Speaker 2: the various chemicals in a smell. 219 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:38,920 Speaker 1: I feel like you just have like a word salad 220 00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:43,400 Speaker 1: of scientific words. But it is it sounds pretty amazing. 221 00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:46,679 Speaker 2: One day you'll understand it's pretty complicated. 222 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:49,600 Speaker 1: It is also wild to learn about, like the very 223 00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:53,840 Speaker 1: precise and almost like clinical process of unpacking what is 224 00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:58,000 Speaker 1: such a human experience, right like, because you know you 225 00:12:58,040 --> 00:13:01,200 Speaker 1: said it before, smell is so emotional and whether it's 226 00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:05,640 Speaker 1: pheromones or childhood memories or just the way home smells, 227 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:09,840 Speaker 1: right like, these are very human experiences. And you know, 228 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:11,640 Speaker 1: one of the things I thought was fascinating was I 229 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:16,160 Speaker 1: found this study from twenty twelve where two researchers interviewed 230 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:20,200 Speaker 1: thirty residents of Krakow in Poland, and they were all 231 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:23,120 Speaker 1: old enough to remember the transition in nineteen eighty nine 232 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:26,400 Speaker 1: out of communism, and they tracked that transition with the 233 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:30,240 Speaker 1: smell of their neighbors cooking. Like the smell showed them 234 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:34,240 Speaker 1: the degree to which they lacked privacy in these socialist flats, 235 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:38,720 Speaker 1: and that all changed in the transition to capitalism. This 236 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:40,520 Speaker 1: was kind of mind blowing to be in the nineteen 237 00:13:40,559 --> 00:13:45,360 Speaker 1: forties Russians distanced themselves from capitalist America through smell. It 238 00:13:45,400 --> 00:13:48,040 Speaker 1: was like one of the propaganda things and communists felt 239 00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:51,760 Speaker 1: that they were living in a fragrant world where everything smells, 240 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:55,280 Speaker 1: while Americans only experienced land sterile air. 241 00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:59,720 Speaker 2: Wow. So I guess capitalism literally smells different than socialism. 242 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:02,840 Speaker 1: Yeah, which actually makes sense, right. So think about how 243 00:14:02,920 --> 00:14:06,480 Speaker 1: different cities have a smell, like these potpourries of everything 244 00:14:06,559 --> 00:14:10,600 Speaker 1: that contributes to that city's culture. Like there's a distinct 245 00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:13,199 Speaker 1: smell when you land in Beijing. I know when I've 246 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:16,280 Speaker 1: been to Bangalore, like in the monsoons, there's a distinct 247 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:20,720 Speaker 1: smell there and it immediately evokes certain memories. America has 248 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:22,080 Speaker 1: this too. I was talking to a friend who was 249 00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:25,080 Speaker 1: telling me how the Denver airport has this distinct smell 250 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:27,680 Speaker 1: to her, and so does the Path train in New York. 251 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:30,800 Speaker 1: But what's interesting is that some cities and countries are 252 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:34,840 Speaker 1: actually making an effort to recognize the value of their odors. 253 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:38,480 Speaker 1: So in two thousand and one, Japan's environment minister classified 254 00:14:38,520 --> 00:14:42,400 Speaker 1: the country's top one hundred best smelling spots, which ran 255 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:45,120 Speaker 1: the gamut from hedges to grill deal. 256 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:48,200 Speaker 2: I'd actually love to see this list, and it definitely 257 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:50,600 Speaker 2: makes sense for a country that prides itself on stopping 258 00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:53,200 Speaker 2: to smell the scent of nature and forest bathing. 259 00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:57,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, but Japan isn't the only one. In istanbul Coach 260 00:14:57,160 --> 00:15:02,600 Speaker 1: University's Research Center for Anatolian'sviations has opened an exhibition called 261 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:05,760 Speaker 1: Sense in the City to explore four thousand years of 262 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:07,720 Speaker 1: civilization through its smells. 263 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:10,320 Speaker 2: There is something just so cool about the fact that 264 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:13,080 Speaker 2: you can land in another country, take this deep sniff 265 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:14,760 Speaker 2: and go yep, that's Athens. 266 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:19,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a huge component of travel experience. There's this 267 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:23,560 Speaker 1: professor from Goldsmith's University, Alex Rhees Taylor, who specializes in 268 00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:28,600 Speaker 1: multisensory experience of urban space, and he says, quote, you 269 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:30,960 Speaker 1: can learn a lot about a city's economy, a lot 270 00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:33,960 Speaker 1: about its culture through the sense of smell. But he 271 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:36,800 Speaker 1: also says that a lot of those specific smells are 272 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:39,800 Speaker 1: starting to disappear and are being replaced by what he 273 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:43,760 Speaker 1: calls a transnational aroma scape. And he goes on to 274 00:15:43,760 --> 00:15:46,520 Speaker 1: say this, it is pretty much the same in every 275 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:51,320 Speaker 1: global city now. Smells of pulled pork, flat whites, roasting 276 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:55,080 Speaker 1: coffee beans is an increasing one, and microbreweries. There's a 277 00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:59,600 Speaker 1: global constellation of transnational aromas and flavors associated with transnational 278 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:02,720 Speaker 1: class people that move around from city to city. 279 00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:05,080 Speaker 2: I guess that's the smell of globalization. 280 00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:07,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, kind of like the macdonalization of culture. 281 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:11,320 Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, there's this community hell belief that the modern 282 00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:14,920 Speaker 2: era has been one of deodorization, that is, the belief 283 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:18,000 Speaker 2: that we've gotten less smelly the more that we advance. Sure, 284 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:20,880 Speaker 2: but what's interesting is that this isn't entirely true. So 285 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:23,680 Speaker 2: first of all, we've been dividing and judging people on 286 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:27,360 Speaker 2: the basis of smell for centuries. Socrates thought that slaves 287 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:30,160 Speaker 2: smelled differently and that the use of perfumes threatened to 288 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:33,360 Speaker 2: confuse the ability to tell them apart from free men. 289 00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:36,480 Speaker 1: That is so weird. I feel like the more you 290 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:38,880 Speaker 1: learn about so creates less cool. He seems to be. 291 00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:43,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, good callback to Bill and Ted there. And it 292 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:46,480 Speaker 2: can start to get pretty discriminatory, as you pointed out, 293 00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:50,640 Speaker 2: with kind of racists and colonial ideas that actually aren't accurate. 294 00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:53,840 Speaker 2: Historian Mark Jenner has written how when society has quote 295 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:57,920 Speaker 2: deodorized ourselves to an extent, we've swapped one set of 296 00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:02,440 Speaker 2: smells for another, like fabriz plugins in every bathroom, or 297 00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:04,840 Speaker 2: hospitals smelling like bleach, those kinds of things. 298 00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:08,560 Speaker 1: Yeah, or like pine trees hanging in every uber. But right, 299 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:11,159 Speaker 1: you know, back to what you were saying before. Because 300 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:15,000 Speaker 1: smell is so emotional and really so cultural, it can 301 00:17:15,080 --> 00:17:18,000 Speaker 1: actually have a lot to do with power. So in 302 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:21,199 Speaker 1: the early twentieth century along the California coast, there was 303 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:25,440 Speaker 1: an odor of squid and sardines that really polarized opinion. 304 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:29,879 Speaker 1: The tourism industry thought this fishy smell was intolerable, but 305 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:33,439 Speaker 1: you know, the fishing industry just considered it this minor 306 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:37,840 Speaker 1: note in the smellscape of modern ray and environmental historians 307 00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:41,000 Speaker 1: look at examples like this to see how conflicting interpretations 308 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:44,240 Speaker 1: of the same smell tend to be adjudicated according to 309 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:45,520 Speaker 1: who has more power. 310 00:17:47,359 --> 00:17:49,600 Speaker 2: I was thinking about that. Speaking of power, remember at 311 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:51,840 Speaker 2: the beginning of the episode, you were actually talking about 312 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:55,399 Speaker 2: how there are organic materials that are disappearing so their 313 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:57,240 Speaker 2: sense will be extinct soon. 314 00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:00,600 Speaker 1: Yeah that was a long time ago, but yes, I 315 00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:01,239 Speaker 1: remember that. 316 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:04,840 Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. Well there's this one smell in particular that 317 00:18:04,960 --> 00:18:08,560 Speaker 2: is extremely sought after by hot, rich people and it's 318 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:09,479 Speaker 2: called ood. 319 00:18:10,119 --> 00:18:13,480 Speaker 1: Oh I know oud, but not because I'm rich or hot, 320 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:14,720 Speaker 1: I just like colones. 321 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:18,960 Speaker 2: Well then you probably also know that ood is in 322 00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:22,320 Speaker 2: a lot of luxury fragrances from brands like tom Ford, 323 00:18:22,480 --> 00:18:26,440 Speaker 2: Christian Dior, Joe Malone. But real ood comes from the 324 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:28,800 Speaker 2: resin of wild agerwood trees. 325 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:31,200 Speaker 1: Oh, I had no idea where the sun came from. 326 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:34,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, and apparently those trees are under serious threat from 327 00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:39,080 Speaker 2: over harvesting kilo for kilo, ood is actually more costly 328 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:41,800 Speaker 2: than gold. And as wild harvesting has been banned in 329 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:44,800 Speaker 2: Thailand and other South Asian countries, this is where the 330 00:18:44,840 --> 00:18:48,719 Speaker 2: agerwood trees grow. There's been a boom in plantations growing 331 00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:53,720 Speaker 2: cultivated agerwood. But cultivated ood just isn't that good because 332 00:18:53,720 --> 00:18:56,719 Speaker 2: it tends to get harvested when the trees are between 333 00:18:56,800 --> 00:19:00,720 Speaker 2: five and ten years old. And generally speaking, good ood 334 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:03,080 Speaker 2: you want to let the trees cook for really about 335 00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:05,119 Speaker 2: one hundred years, so a lot lot longer. 336 00:19:05,320 --> 00:19:09,639 Speaker 1: Yeah, I let that ood cook. But that's right. But 337 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:13,520 Speaker 1: you know, Wil, there actually is precedent for recreating sense 338 00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:14,640 Speaker 1: from extinct plants. 339 00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:16,960 Speaker 2: Well, that is super interesting and I want to get 340 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:18,879 Speaker 2: into that. But before we do that, let's take a 341 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:35,280 Speaker 2: quick break. Welcome back to Part time Genius. We're talking 342 00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:38,680 Speaker 2: about disappearing sense, all right, Mango you were just about 343 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:42,560 Speaker 2: to tell us about scientists recreating scents and smells from 344 00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:44,040 Speaker 2: extinct plants. 345 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:47,640 Speaker 1: I mean, the whole idea of this is really cool 346 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:49,760 Speaker 1: to me. But actually, do you remember in college I 347 00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:52,360 Speaker 1: had an extra science credit I needed to take, and 348 00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:54,680 Speaker 1: I was looking through the options and I almost took 349 00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:57,760 Speaker 1: organic chemistry because you know, one of the things that 350 00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:00,399 Speaker 1: said in the pathlet was that you could learned to 351 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:03,639 Speaker 1: create the scent of pairs and a lab. I really 352 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:04,119 Speaker 1: love that. 353 00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:07,240 Speaker 2: I love that that was like the reason you were 354 00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:09,800 Speaker 2: going to take what was probably known as like the 355 00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:13,320 Speaker 2: hardest weed out class in all of college. It would 356 00:20:13,359 --> 00:20:14,760 Speaker 2: have been a disaster, I know. 357 00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:16,760 Speaker 1: And actually you're the one who convinced me not to 358 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:22,160 Speaker 1: do it because I hate chemistry, but the curiosity about 359 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:23,840 Speaker 1: how to make sense and a level almost tricked me 360 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:27,000 Speaker 1: into hating my senior year. But I hear you, let's 361 00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:31,159 Speaker 1: talk about these extinct flowers. So in twenty sixteen, a 362 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:35,160 Speaker 1: team of biologists, researchers, and artists embarked on a project 363 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:39,840 Speaker 1: called Resurrecting the Sublime, and using tiny amounts of DNA 364 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:44,120 Speaker 1: extracted from specimen of three flowers. A team of scientists 365 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:48,360 Speaker 1: used synthetic biology to predict and resynthesize the gene sequences 366 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:52,639 Speaker 1: that could encode for fragrance producing enzymes and then using 367 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:57,600 Speaker 1: those findings, this smell researcher and artist named Cisel Tolas 368 00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:01,240 Speaker 1: used her expertise to reconstruct the flowers smells in the 369 00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:05,680 Speaker 1: lab and she used identical or comparative smell molecules. 370 00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:08,520 Speaker 2: Some guys, since she's like one of these super smellers 371 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 2: that helped create perfumes. But what were the extinct flowers? 372 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:15,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, she's a nose like that's what they're called. But yeah, 373 00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:17,960 Speaker 1: I'm gonna murder the pronunciation of these flowers, but bear 374 00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:27,000 Speaker 1: with me. The Hibiscadelphus wilderaneus or maui howk haiwaii? 375 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:28,760 Speaker 2: Yeah, you murdered it. 376 00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:33,280 Speaker 1: It's the plant's habitat was decimated by colonial cattle ranching 377 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:36,000 Speaker 1: and the final tree was found dying in nineteen twelve. 378 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:39,119 Speaker 1: And then the second flower was the falls of the 379 00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:42,600 Speaker 1: Ohio scurf pee, which was last seen in eighteen eighty 380 00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:46,120 Speaker 1: one on Rock Island on the Ohio River. And then 381 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:49,159 Speaker 1: there's Windberg cone bush, which sounds like a person but 382 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:52,320 Speaker 1: it's actually a flower and it was last described in 383 00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:55,560 Speaker 1: London in a collector's garden in eighteen oh five, and 384 00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:58,879 Speaker 1: its habitat in Cape Town, South Africa was already lost 385 00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:02,200 Speaker 1: to colonial vine, so you know it had disappeared there 386 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:03,920 Speaker 1: and then was preserved in London for a bit. 387 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:06,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I do think it'd be so amazing 388 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:09,399 Speaker 2: to smell extinct flowers, but I guess you'd have to 389 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:11,520 Speaker 2: go to a lab where they recreated them. It's not 390 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:14,560 Speaker 2: like you can, you know, send off these smells or anything. 391 00:22:15,119 --> 00:22:18,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean there's something amazing about like the idea 392 00:22:18,119 --> 00:22:20,440 Speaker 1: of smelling a new scent, right, Like it's like seeing 393 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:22,760 Speaker 1: a new color or something. It just feels unimaginable. But 394 00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:26,879 Speaker 1: you know, the idea of sending smells is pretty fascinating. 395 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:30,760 Speaker 1: In twenty fourteen, a Harvard professor named David Edwards and 396 00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:34,639 Speaker 1: one of his students, Rachel Field, invented a prototype called 397 00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:38,200 Speaker 1: the OPhone, which was designed to let people send smells 398 00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:39,440 Speaker 1: like text messages. 399 00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:41,800 Speaker 2: WHOA, so, how does that even work? 400 00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:45,400 Speaker 1: Well? The phone had a lot of moving parts. There 401 00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:49,159 Speaker 1: was the O snap app where you create an O note, 402 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:52,320 Speaker 1: which was a photograph and a smell created out of 403 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:54,640 Speaker 1: a palette of thirty two cents available in the app 404 00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:58,920 Speaker 1: that could be combined into three hundred thousand possible combinations, 405 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:01,240 Speaker 1: so like the sender would forward the OH note to 406 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:05,200 Speaker 1: an OPhone the hardware portion of the enterprise which recreated 407 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:08,359 Speaker 1: the aroma from the O snap app, and the key 408 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:11,879 Speaker 1: component of the OPhone is the O chip, which you 409 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:13,600 Speaker 1: know created the actual smell. 410 00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:17,040 Speaker 2: Yes, I mean, I guess you're not really sending a smell. 411 00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:19,919 Speaker 2: You're more like describing it to a computer, and the 412 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:23,359 Speaker 2: computer squirts out its best guess as to what you described. 413 00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:25,560 Speaker 2: It kind of makes me feel like it's smell a 414 00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:26,600 Speaker 2: vision but for a phone. 415 00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:27,520 Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty much. 416 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:30,520 Speaker 2: But it is approximating a mood through smell, And it's 417 00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:33,399 Speaker 2: sort of like those fancy candle stores that now you know, 418 00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:36,879 Speaker 2: make these really specific smells to evoke a certain mood, 419 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:40,920 Speaker 2: like pasta water or video store or things like that. 420 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:43,440 Speaker 1: I love that video stores a smell. 421 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:46,720 Speaker 2: Yeah. The company that makes it describes it as quote 422 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:52,240 Speaker 2: aromas of buttery, popcorn, plastic VHS tapes, dusty carpet, and 423 00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:55,320 Speaker 2: hints of candy to evoke the atmosphere of a classic 424 00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:57,760 Speaker 2: video store. And you have to admit, when you hear 425 00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:00,120 Speaker 2: those words, you can start to like smell at your. 426 00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:03,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, bring me back to my days working at biz art. 427 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:06,200 Speaker 1: It's like, ye, the closest thing we have to time travel. 428 00:24:06,840 --> 00:24:09,320 Speaker 1: It's amazing, and I guess until we get our OPhones working, 429 00:24:09,359 --> 00:24:12,080 Speaker 1: we'll just have to rely on these candles. Anyway, I 430 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:15,080 Speaker 1: really am amazed that you can recreate all these ancient scents. 431 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:17,760 Speaker 2: Yeah, it is pretty stunning. All right, but before we 432 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:19,640 Speaker 2: sign off, how about we make time for a little 433 00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:20,160 Speaker 2: fact off. 434 00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:21,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm into it. 435 00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:31,240 Speaker 2: Okay, mango, here's a quick one. Did you know that 436 00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:34,240 Speaker 2: Yale University found that Crayola crayons are one of the 437 00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:39,360 Speaker 2: twenty most recognizable scents among American adults, and another survey 438 00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:42,400 Speaker 2: eighty five percent of people remembered their childhood when they 439 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:45,199 Speaker 2: caught the scent of Crayola crayons. 440 00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:48,399 Speaker 1: Which I guess makes sense. But uh, what were some 441 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:50,520 Speaker 1: of the other scents on Yale's list? 442 00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:52,840 Speaker 2: Well, some of them aren't that surprisingly. There are things 443 00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:57,119 Speaker 2: like coffee, lemons, bleach mothballs, which is such a strong 444 00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:00,879 Speaker 2: and terrible smell, baby powder, but also other name brand 445 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:04,879 Speaker 2: things like Ivory, soap, Vix, vapor ub. But weirdly, the 446 00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:08,600 Speaker 2: Krayola scent comes because it's a derivative beef tallow or 447 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:11,919 Speaker 2: beef fat, which gives the crayons their sort of waxy feel. 448 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:16,120 Speaker 1: So, speaking of Crayola, here's one I didn't realize from 449 00:25:16,119 --> 00:25:18,280 Speaker 1: mental fluss. Did you know that? In nineteen ninety four, 450 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:23,280 Speaker 1: Crayola released a line of food scented crayons called Magic Scent. 451 00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:24,960 Speaker 2: Have you heard about these? No? I had not. 452 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:27,840 Speaker 1: Yeah, So it sounds like such a bad idea because 453 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:32,680 Speaker 1: the crayons basically came in flavors like coconut, cherry, and chocolate, 454 00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:36,040 Speaker 1: which obviously makes kids want to stuff them in their faces. 455 00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:39,280 Speaker 2: I mean, how would they not see this coming? Between 456 00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:42,120 Speaker 2: beef flavor and those dessert flavors? How could you not eat? 457 00:25:42,119 --> 00:25:43,280 Speaker 2: I think I would try them. 458 00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:47,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, But by nineteen ninety five, the next year, apparently 459 00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:49,600 Speaker 1: at least ten kids had eaten a lot of crayons. 460 00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:52,359 Speaker 1: So Crayola changed the flavors to things that were a 461 00:25:52,359 --> 00:25:56,240 Speaker 1: little less appetizing, to things like dirt. Apparently. 462 00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:01,400 Speaker 2: All right, Well, here's another one from a fragrance manufacturer 463 00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:04,640 Speaker 2: called Aromaco, who says that in the not so distant future, 464 00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:09,080 Speaker 2: sweat maybe used like a fingerprint. According to the site, 465 00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:12,600 Speaker 2: quote Israeli Chimis say that the food we eat, drugs 466 00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:16,440 Speaker 2: we take, gender, and even state of mind all combined 467 00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:19,840 Speaker 2: to make each person sweat unique, which is super interesting. 468 00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:21,920 Speaker 2: It makes sense. But I had not thought about that before. 469 00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:25,520 Speaker 2: And the manufacturer points to how Tel Aviv University's School 470 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:28,320 Speaker 2: of Chemistry has this lab where a team has been 471 00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:31,520 Speaker 2: breaking down the components of human sweat as kind of 472 00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:32,399 Speaker 2: a new id. 473 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:37,640 Speaker 1: That's crazy. Yeah, So here's a quick fact from Scientific American. 474 00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:39,920 Speaker 1: I'm not sure if you've ever noticed this, but there's 475 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:44,080 Speaker 1: a sweet, slightly pungent smell that comes before the rain begins, 476 00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:49,359 Speaker 1: and that smell is ozone. That's what ozone smells like. 477 00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:53,840 Speaker 1: According to tropospheric chemists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, 478 00:26:54,119 --> 00:26:58,080 Speaker 1: the downdrafts that happen as a thunderstorm is brewing carry 479 00:26:58,080 --> 00:27:01,960 Speaker 1: the ozone from the atmosphere down to nostril level where 480 00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:02,760 Speaker 1: we can smell them. 481 00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:05,800 Speaker 2: Wow. I mean, there definitely is a distinct smell there. 482 00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:07,720 Speaker 2: I had no idea that that's what that was though. 483 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:11,439 Speaker 2: All right, well, speaking of recreating sense, the Jorvik Viking 484 00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:14,800 Speaker 2: Center in York, England, decided they wanted to give visitors 485 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:17,280 Speaker 2: a better sense of what it felt like to be 486 00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:20,800 Speaker 2: in a Viking village. So, as Freddale, a scent consultant, 487 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:24,280 Speaker 2: put it, previously, museums were a series of glass cases 488 00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:26,520 Speaker 2: which had their own musty smell, but not the one 489 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:29,520 Speaker 2: that encouraged you to think about the past. So among 490 00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:32,240 Speaker 2: smells that are pumped through the exhibits are things like 491 00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:38,640 Speaker 2: wood smoke, apples, fish, leatherwork, and goat pooh. 492 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:41,560 Speaker 1: Well, speaking of goat pooh. 493 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:44,199 Speaker 2: I think I accidentally set you up here. I'm not 494 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:45,359 Speaker 2: sure I like where this is going. 495 00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:49,320 Speaker 1: So this is a terrible fact, and you did accidentally 496 00:27:49,359 --> 00:27:52,760 Speaker 1: sell me up. But have you ever heard of perosmia? 497 00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:53,879 Speaker 2: I don't think I have. 498 00:27:54,359 --> 00:27:58,360 Speaker 1: Apparently it is a scent disorder. So there's anosmia, where 499 00:27:58,359 --> 00:28:02,560 Speaker 1: you can't smell anything, and then there's phantosmia, which or phantosmia, 500 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:05,399 Speaker 1: which is it's kind of like a phantom limb, you know, 501 00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:08,520 Speaker 1: so you're smelling things that don't actually exist, the same 502 00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:10,560 Speaker 1: way people with phantom limbs feel like they have a 503 00:28:11,119 --> 00:28:14,840 Speaker 1: leg even though it's been amputated. And then there's parosmia, 504 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:18,640 Speaker 1: which is just awful. Apparently it affects a very very 505 00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:23,040 Speaker 1: small part of the population. But everything smells like sewage 506 00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:27,160 Speaker 1: and mud. It's just miserable. I read this account from 507 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:29,520 Speaker 1: this person in the Guardian who talked about getting this 508 00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:32,800 Speaker 1: awful cold and illness and it took away her sense 509 00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:35,919 Speaker 1: of scent. And then she got phantasmia first, where she 510 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:39,160 Speaker 1: thought she was smelling a burning meat, so she kept 511 00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:41,440 Speaker 1: having her husband check the oven and look around the 512 00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:43,440 Speaker 1: house and it was just this made up scent in 513 00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:46,040 Speaker 1: her head. But then the worst thing happened, and she 514 00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:51,000 Speaker 1: got parosmia, and suddenly everything smelled terrible. She lost her appetite, 515 00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:55,040 Speaker 1: everything felt disgusting, and she thought she was losing her mind. 516 00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:58,280 Speaker 1: So actually, this is her quote from the article. To me, 517 00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:01,840 Speaker 1: chocolate tastes like biting into a raw sewage, chicken is 518 00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:05,680 Speaker 1: muddy and rubbery. Peanut butter and marmite are like trying 519 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:07,960 Speaker 1: to eat I'm not gonna say it, but let's just 520 00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:10,880 Speaker 1: call it loose motions. And she says there are a 521 00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:15,520 Speaker 1: couple of exceptions. Raspberries, carrots and parsnips don't taste vile, 522 00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:19,080 Speaker 1: nor does gin, which really helps. But you know, she 523 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:20,400 Speaker 1: didn't know what to do about this. She goes to 524 00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:23,440 Speaker 1: a conference with people who suffered sort of these three 525 00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:26,920 Speaker 1: similar traits, and she learned some hacks to deal with 526 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:27,560 Speaker 1: the situation. 527 00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:31,120 Speaker 2: I mean, this just sounds brutal, but like, what kind 528 00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:32,120 Speaker 2: of hacks did she learn? 529 00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:36,520 Speaker 1: Yeah, basically masking the scent. So her friend, who was 530 00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:40,320 Speaker 1: a perfumer, made a strong scent out of violets and lilies, 531 00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:42,720 Speaker 1: and that was something she could actually smell. So she 532 00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:45,760 Speaker 1: puts that on herself to sort of, you know, cover 533 00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:48,240 Speaker 1: up everything around her, and she carries around what she 534 00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:51,960 Speaker 1: calls a porosmia first aid kit. This includes things like 535 00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:55,520 Speaker 1: cinnamon drops to make drinks palatable and hot sauce to 536 00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:57,880 Speaker 1: mask the taste of food. And you know, all of 537 00:29:57,960 --> 00:29:59,240 Speaker 1: it just sounds so miserable. 538 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:02,360 Speaker 2: Yeah, it really does. I feel like we need a 539 00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:05,040 Speaker 2: palate cleanser for that last fact. So here's one that 540 00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:07,680 Speaker 2: I think is fascinating. Did you know that during the 541 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:10,560 Speaker 2: two thousand and eight World Series, the Tampa Bay Rays 542 00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:14,720 Speaker 2: Stadium commissioned a scent called Citrus Burst, so that when 543 00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:17,760 Speaker 2: fans entered the rotunda, instead of smelling hot dogs and 544 00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:21,400 Speaker 2: stale beer, they would smell the pleasant scent of oranges. 545 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:24,640 Speaker 1: I like that, but uh, don't they play at traffic 546 00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:25,240 Speaker 1: out of field. 547 00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:28,920 Speaker 2: That's exactly right, so it has extra meaning. But the 548 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:32,680 Speaker 2: experiment went over so well that stadium owners started playing 549 00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:36,280 Speaker 2: and pumping other scents into the stadiums just to please fans, 550 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:39,440 Speaker 2: including cotton candy and tops bubblegum. 551 00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:42,520 Speaker 1: I love that. You know, you did a nice job 552 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:45,720 Speaker 1: of covering up my porosmia fact. So why don't I 553 00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:46,760 Speaker 1: give this one to you? 554 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:49,040 Speaker 2: I was going to say, even if I had not 555 00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:51,960 Speaker 2: earned it, just that fact alone, I think by default 556 00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:54,600 Speaker 2: I'm going to get it. But thank you so much. 557 00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:57,080 Speaker 2: That is it for this week's Part Time Genius. Thanks 558 00:30:57,120 --> 00:30:59,280 Speaker 2: so much for listening. If you like Part Time Genius, 559 00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:01,800 Speaker 2: don't forget to raise the show, write his review, tell 560 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:04,360 Speaker 2: a friend, and if you really want to get to us, 561 00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:07,800 Speaker 2: write our moms a note at PT Genius moms at 562 00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:11,320 Speaker 2: gmail dot com. They always pass these notes along to us. 563 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:14,720 Speaker 1: Yeah, they passed a few already which are really really wonderful. 564 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:17,480 Speaker 1: And I actually have a giveaway. I mentioned this last week, 565 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:20,400 Speaker 1: but we're going to pick ten more random fans from 566 00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:23,160 Speaker 1: everyone who writes in, and I'm going to send you 567 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:25,479 Speaker 1: a special gift to show you our appreciation. We're going 568 00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:27,840 Speaker 1: to pony express it to you, so let us know 569 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:30,360 Speaker 1: what you think about the show and what topics you 570 00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:33,080 Speaker 1: want us to cover, especially that, and we'll put something 571 00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:36,360 Speaker 1: in the mail for you from Will, Dylan, Marry and me. 572 00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:51,200 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening. Part Time Genius is 573 00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:55,040 Speaker 1: a production of Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio. This show is hosted 574 00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:59,479 Speaker 1: by Will Pearson and Me Mongastikler and research by our 575 00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:03,600 Speaker 1: good path he Mary Philip Sandy. Today's episode was engineered 576 00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:06,560 Speaker 1: and produced by the wonderful Dylan Fagan with support from 577 00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:10,280 Speaker 1: Tyler Klang. The show is executive produced for iHeart by 578 00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:14,160 Speaker 1: Katrina Norvel and Ali Perry, with social media support from 579 00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:18,760 Speaker 1: Sasha Gay, trustee Dara Potts and Viney Shorey. For more 580 00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:24,080 Speaker 1: podcasts from Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 581 00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:38,400 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.