WEBVTT - Smells to Blow Your Mind 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how stuff 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:13.880 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:16.960 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. And uh, 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:20.640 we're gonna talk about smells smell and and don't turn 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:23.119 up the podcast. You made it this far into a 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:26.400 podcast about smells. Yeah, because that's the thing. The sense 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:28.960 of smell is amazing, and it is mind blowing. We 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:31.800 we end up taking it for granted. But but it's 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:34.680 one of the strongest senses that we have. Out of 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:37.160 all the five. It's the only one that interacts directly 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:39.600 with the brain. And and just imagine how boring the 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:42.080 world would be without it, and and and also take 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:45.080 into account that we really haven't studied it seriously scientifically 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:48.080 until the last couple of decades, Like there was a 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:49.960 but before that, if you were like, I'm going to 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:53.280 scientifically study smell, I'm really interested in how things smell 0:00:53.400 --> 0:00:55.760 and what makes something stink, and what makes something smell good, 0:00:56.040 --> 0:00:58.720 and how something that could the same odor could sort 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:01.280 of smell good. If we thought of one thing and stink, 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:03.240 if we thought it was the other people would laugh 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:04.720 at you. They would say a ha, ha, why don't 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:07.600 you go study ghosts or something? Right? Right? Right? Did 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:09.959 they ever think that there would be a whole industry 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:13.560 that is uh built on smell, Like, for instance, if 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:15.840 you go into the gap, if you go into that retailer, 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:18.959 there is a specific smell that was created just for 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:22.880 that store, keeping you the customer in mind, you know, 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:25.720 sort of fresh light smell to try to manipulate your Yeah. 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:29.080 It goes far beyond just the perfume industry or anything 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:31.440 of that nature. It gets into into what kind of 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:34.840 smells do people react to, how to how to smells 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:38.440 interact with our memories? Um, wine and then wine is 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:40.800 a one smell appealed to say, one group of people 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:44.360 and not to another. It just gets it gets crazy. Yeah. Yeah. 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:46.600 And so today we're gonna talk about smells, but we're 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:47.960 don't trying to talk about it in a little bit 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:51.920 of an unorthodox way. And uh, I'm not lying here. 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:54.160 We're gonna talk about David Beckham's foot at one point. 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:57.520 Oh yes, yeah, yeah, So so let's get into it 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:00.280 all right. Well, a lot of this came from a 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:04.240 panel that I attended at the at the World Science 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:07.040 Festival in New York in June of two thousand eleven. 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:09.880 We're both up there hitting various panels and this one 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:14.639 was called Sense and Sensibilities, right, yes, take on, Jane Austen. Yeah, 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:16.080 and it was a really cool one. Like all of 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:17.960 them barely got there in time, because it was like, 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:20.240 you know, taking the train and then trying to figure 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:22.240 out where I was supposed to go, and then using 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:25.840 the phone to try and triangulate exactly where I was 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:28.560 and where it was. It was very and as you 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:30.280 were looking at the phone bumping into the building and 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:32.079 realizing that was a building that you needed to hoof 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:36.000 it into. Yeah, and uh, it was a great panel. 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:37.519 And one of the things they did they did a 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:41.560 really interesting smell test where everybody had these different cards 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:43.960 under their well, they weren't under the chair, but they 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:45.320 were handed out to It was lightly It was just 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:47.720 that if they were under the chair and each one 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:49.680 has a number, and then you smell it and then 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:52.680 they would vote to see what people thought the smell was. 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:56.000 So um, I thought we might just run through these 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:58.520 real quick. Okay, let's do it all right. So this 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:00.360 is we're going to count down from the top. This 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:02.760 is number four, number four, and this is a little card. 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:05.240 It has you gotta peel the plastic back. I can 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:07.560 smell something kind of smells kind of good, but it's 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:11.880 very faint langline. I don't know what that is. It's 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:17.280 a it's a like a lily smell. Okay, so you 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:19.800 can kind of a like a sweet plant kind of smell. 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:21.800 From what is number four? Then I will have up 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:24.280 to my nose. It is a Tahitian flower by the 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:27.400 name of t R So there you go. You were 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:30.200 pretty close that I was gonna say Tahitian flower. Yeah, 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:32.440 well it's it's frequently used in you know, kind of 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:38.280 perfumey smells. Now number three mm hm, okay, this smells 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:42.480 like it sounds good, but because it also smells like 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:47.680 under arm plus like maybe a drier sheet. Oh that's 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:51.880 that's very spot on because it's musk, which is of 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:55.040 course musk, you know, musky odors, but musk is also 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:57.920 an important ingredient, very in soap products. That's funny. I 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:00.120 felt like I should I say I like that, us 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:01.960 I feel a little dirty and saying that I like this. 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:05.520 That was my initial squeeze directed directly from a muskrat, 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:08.080 and then the final one. This is number one, and 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:09.920 this one is actually double wrapped, so you'll have to 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:12.600 take it out of the plastic. Hey, if it's double wrap, 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:16.400 it's probably pretty pungent, right, Well, that would seem to imply, 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:20.359 oh goodness, yeah it is. It's still strong after so 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:26.359 many months. I mean, it's clearly smells like cheese, and 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:30.320 it's like a very pungent cheese. I mean, I'm not 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:33.400 gonna say it's cheddar, but it's it's strong. Yeah. This 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:36.559 one was the most fun at this festival because people 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:39.200 were throwing out various ideas from the audience, things of 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:44.000 such as, it's under arm, it's its feet, it's uh, 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:47.680 it's body odor, it's it's locker funk, it's and then 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:51.000 other people are saying it's Lindburger, it's Swiss, it's uh, 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:53.640 you know, it's it's some sort of weird pots, Robert, 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:56.440 what have I just put up to my nose? David 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:59.159 Beckham's feet Apparently this was taking This smell was taken 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:03.840 directly from David Beckham's foot funk and then made into 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:06.120 a chemical form and then brushed under the all these 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:09.400 little cards and then handed out to people attending this 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:13.760 particular panel. Alright, So I mean I read about not 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:16.760 necessarily this that you just put in my nose, but 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:20.320 that his foot has been studied before. I didn't realize 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:24.279 that was quite a specimen. I mean, his molecules are 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:27.080 they're they're just rumbling around my nose right now and 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:32.039 touching your brain. I should really say. Yeah, I have 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:35.480 to say it's a little bit disturbing, especially since I 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:38.919 like cheese. Um, I really do. And that is that 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:41.120 is the weird thing, Like the same smell in a 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:45.120 different context. Um, at least cheese fans would be like, oh, 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:48.800 that smells delightful. There was a an art opening I 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:51.440 was helping at here in town that my wife was organizing, 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:54.520 and there was some cheese on hand, and so Bonnie 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:57.240 was unwrapping it and getting ready on the table, and 0:05:57.279 --> 0:05:59.680 I was doing something else, like getting lighting or sound 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:01.960 ready for the event, and I smelled this odor and 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:03.719 I'm like, oh, my goodness, we're about to have this 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:05.679 art event and a mouse has died in the wall. 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:07.720 What are we gonna do? It's like, I don't I 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:09.080 don't know how to get back there and get it, 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:11.080 Like clearly something has died. And then I found it 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:14.360 out that knows this cheese and uh. And and then 0:06:14.440 --> 0:06:16.960 later we had some friends that were attending it who 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:20.599 are big freendshophiles and really in cheese. They were like, oh, 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:23.039 this smells great. Can we take it home and devour it? 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:25.359 And we're like, yes, please, yes, please, please take the 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:28.000 dead mouse home because it is is stinking up the space. 0:06:28.360 --> 0:06:31.960 So different different circumstances, different ideas about where the smell 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:34.480 is coming from, has a huge impact on whether it 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:37.920 is a good smell or a bad smell. Different cultures, right, um, 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:41.600 and there was a woman on this panel. Cecil told us, 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:46.680 the Norwegian odor artist. Oh, yes, she was awesome. Yeah. 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:49.000 I mean you know, by the way, this is all online, 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:50.760 so you can go to World Science Festival put in 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:54.600 sense s c e n T s s c n 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:57.839 s e uh sense and sensibilities and you can see 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:01.000 some of this stuff. It's great. She is uh. They 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:04.040 call her an udor provocateur, and she's really like a 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:06.200 warrior for smell. In the same way that you hear 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:08.880 a lot of parents arguing that okay, you should not 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:11.680 let a child say that a food is yucky, or 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:14.200 you should not say, oh, this taste bad in front 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:16.080 of a child, Like she takes it even farther than 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:19.119 we should not talk about things stinking or smelling bad. 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:20.880 And I kind of on the same boat when it 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:22.920 comes to cheese, Like when I hear people talk about, 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:24.880 who I'm gonna try a stinky cheese, I'm like, don't 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:27.560 use that word. Use a different word for the thing 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:30.600 that you like. Don't say stinky. Say it's a pungent, pungent, 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:35.080 pungent I like, or fragrant, expressive cheese, but don't say stinky. 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:36.360 And that was one of the things she was talking about. 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:37.760 It's like, we have to, you know, we have to 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:40.520 bring up a new generation that has a more nuanced 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:44.240 way of talking about smell, because for a lot of people, 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:45.760 it's just like, oh, that's a good smell, and that's 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:49.080 a bad smell. And it's a lot more complicated than that. Yeah, 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:51.400 And that's kind of what put her on her whole journey. 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:53.880 She said to herself, can I think beyond the dichotomies 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:57.680 of good and bad sense? And she certainly has plumbed 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:01.480 the subject to like he has broken the other side. Yeah, 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:03.960 she makes me think of the guy um who who 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:06.920 the Kloica machine who who is very interested in feces 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:11.040 and his exploration of this in our relationship to this, 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:15.440 this smell, this, this this material, and she does it 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:18.160 the same way with smell um and really forces you 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:21.280 to think about the topic. Yeah. Yeah, but it's so, 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:24.960 it's very it's very very interesting that she dived into this, 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:27.960 And I wanted to mention a couple of things that 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:32.600 that make that even more intriguing. Um, And that's considering 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:35.520 what's actually happening to your inside your nose when you 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:38.280 are sensing a smell um. Like you said, it's the 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:41.480 only sense with a direct connection to the brain. So 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:44.560 when you breathe chemicals into your nose, you have proteins 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:48.840 that bind to millions of molecules, and these molecules rush 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:50.720 into your nose and they get really cozy with the 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:53.280 nerve endings of your brains. With factory bulb and you 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:55.880 have four hundred receptors trying to suss out the different 0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:58.840 smells um. So say you're walking down the street in 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:01.400 New York early on the sunny morning in July, You're 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:05.120 gonna be bombarded with a bunch of different smells. Yes, 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:07.480 it is a city of amazing stinks. For sure. It 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:09.760 is it is um or. You know, the day before 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:12.600 garbage pickup, right, it's it's um or. You go past 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:14.600 a pizza parlor and your your brain is trying to 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:17.880 make sense of all this old factory input. So um, 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:20.440 it's it's very interesting when you think about it that way. UM. 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:23.079 And we think about vision is being really complex, but 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:25.840 when we're talking about vision or something like color blindness, 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:29.200 really you're talking about three primary colors that you're perceiving. 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:33.240 But when you're talking about smells, you're talking about fifteen 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:37.079 thousand identifiable smells that are out there so far. Right, 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:39.640 Like you said, this is a pretty young field, the 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:41.600 field of smells. And as we walk around, we're all 0:09:41.600 --> 0:09:45.280 carrying around this database of of smells with us. Um Like, 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:48.520 not only the smells that we recognize in our in 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:50.559 our mind, because I think we've all had that situation 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:52.280 where we're walking down the street and with a different 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:54.880 smell will hit us out of nowhere, and suddenly we're 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:58.400 transported back to our childhood or something, right, and and 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:00.760 sometimes we're not even sure what that odor was. It's 0:10:00.800 --> 0:10:02.840 not like, oh, the smell of fresh peaches that it 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:04.800 takes me back. I don't know why. I know you had. 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:09.040 All Italians are talking about peaches, but but I'm thinking 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:11.120 about New York streets. I guess I don't know, but 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:12.880 but more like you like, for me, it's like a 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:15.160 smell will hit me and I it will be an 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:18.240 unclassifiable smell, like I'm not sure what that odor is, 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:21.240 but it takes me back. But but so not only 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:24.079 those the odors of memory, but also just the odors 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:26.200 on our person in our coat. Well. I was actually 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:28.760 thinking about that a lot today because I'm wearing this 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:33.000 vintage velvet jacket and it's one of my mom's curnies. 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:35.679 Actually gave it to me, and it's really sweet, love it, 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:38.800 but it has this Yeah, it's very shiny, and it 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:41.439 has the scent of her perfume on it. It's clean, 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:44.000 but obviously this is something that survived it and so 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:46.760 I feel like I'm wearing the autobiography of someone else 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:50.400 right now, and it's a little disconcerting. Um just to 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:53.240 every once in a while smell this scent. But this 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:55.640 is one of the things that se sell To Lost 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:59.440 the the odor artists really wanted to check out, and 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:02.120 she did the us by analyzing a bunch of coats 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:07.600 from the citizens and uh, I think it was the Montpelier, France. Yeah, 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:12.040 she took their coats and analyzed it. Um. Basically, she 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:14.840 used her her nose to try to figure out the 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:18.840 different profiles of smell. And before anybody scoffed at that, 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:22.600 this is actually, um, this is something that perfumers do 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:24.880 all the time. You can really train your nose to 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:29.120 detect the most minute smell or so this is something 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:32.640 that's real, by the way, and um ce cel Tolass 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:34.760 is like she's a giant in her field, so she's 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:38.200 pretty well respected. And she actually has created sense for 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:42.520 product Um, Calvin Klein and all sorts of other people, 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:46.040 so she knows what she's talking about here. Um. But anyway, 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:49.920 she has also just another little interesting fact about her. 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:53.640 She has a smell archive preserved in seven thousand, six 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:58.600 hundred and thirty air tight jars which feature dirty fabric, 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:02.640 chunks of fried fish or dried fish, rotten bananas, a 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:06.360 hundred and fifty variations on dog poo, and her favorite 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:08.360 aroma that of her thirteen year old daughter, which I 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:12.320 thought was really cool. So anyway, this this expert on 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:15.120 odor takes these coats and analyzes them and what does 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:19.280 she find, Well that there's a complex bouquet going on there. 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:22.000 Right in the term that bouquet, there's some top notes 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:24.319 and there are some bottom notes for sure. Yeah, like 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:27.720 there's a certain amount of like fecal odor. Yeah, yeah, 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:31.160 there was. There was one product coat that was analyzed 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:34.880 and had two percent dog feces, five percent soy sauce, 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:39.120 six percent gasoline smell, nine percent Jill Sander after shave. 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:42.360 By the way, this aftershave was not the after shave 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:46.560 of her husband. It was of someone else. Um ten 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:49.959 percent codfish, twelve percent channel number five, which is the 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:54.120 scent she wore, and twenty six percent tobacco sweat. Wow, 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:56.240 where is the cod fish coming from? I mean, she 0:12:56.320 --> 0:12:58.680 must have just had a little codfish for for lunch 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:00.760 before she gave her codo her or they had one 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:04.520 of those freak days where like rained cod. Yes, yeah, 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:07.000 that was probably one of those days. Ye frogs the 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:09.559 day before than cod. But yeah, all this stuff is 0:13:09.600 --> 0:13:11.319 in our clothes and we're walking around and we think 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:13.160 that we're so clean, especially here, you know, in the 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:16.680 United States, where we're obsessed with sanitizing ourselves and covering up. Well, yeah, 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:19.400 because I'm clean is an interesting topic just in and 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:23.400 of itself, because we over time have taken idea of 0:13:23.520 --> 0:13:28.520 hygiene and the idea of spiritual purity and and intertwined 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:30.880 the two to the point where in many cultures there's 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:34.320 just no pulling them apart again, right right, So, I 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:37.800 mean it's just and she will say, uh, this artist 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:41.040 that the West is way too obsessed with sanitizing and 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:42.720 we should get a little bit more comfortable with the 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:45.720 different smells that we have, like the smell of fear, 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:52.439 which we will talk about right after this. This podcast 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:55.319 is brought to you by Intel, the sponsors of Tomorrow 0:13:55.720 --> 0:14:00.120 and the Discovery Channel. At Intel, we believe curiosity is 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:04.160 the spark which drives innovation. Join us a curiosity dot 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:10.200 com and explore the answers to life's questions. So the 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:13.720 smell of fear and this this really this boils down 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:16.000 to to some of the you know, a lot of 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:18.000 what we can discuss about the evolution of our sense 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:20.400 of smell in where a place. Because if you can 0:14:20.440 --> 0:14:22.480 smell fear, and you hear that a lot, it's like, 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:24.800 don't mess with that guy. He can smell fear. Don't 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:27.000 be weird around this dog. It can smell fear. The 0:14:27.040 --> 0:14:30.000 idea that that we're emitting some sort of odor, be 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:32.040 that just a some be it just sort of a 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:36.280 body funk or an actual pheromone that says, I am afraid, right, 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:40.080 I am on edge and a little terrified. Uh. It's 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:42.200 it's a fascinating concept because you would not want to 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:44.600 emit that odor. You would want to admit the I'm 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:48.680 pretty awesome and could beat up a dog kind of right, 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:52.160 right right, Because again here we have with these molecules 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:55.360 being sucked up by our noses, and we are detecting 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:57.800 all of this on a very subtle level, which which 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:01.640 again this the odor artist is um using this to 0:15:01.680 --> 0:15:06.760 try to explore, you know, all these different happenstances of 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:10.840 our humanity, like fear. So cecil to lost the artists 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:13.680 we were talking about, she also went after this whole 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:16.840 fear smell thing, and she ended up this is two 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:20.240 thousand six. Shed analyzed all these different examples of men 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:23.080 in a state of fear. These these were men, by 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:25.560 the way, who had chronic states of fear. Right, It 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:27.480 wasn't just like every once a while they were scared, 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:31.000 but for various reasons. They were under dress. Yeah, you know, 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:32.600 maybe they were a veteran or something, and they were 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:35.560 able to, you know, summon this sphere for the experiment, 0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:38.560 and they took samples from their their under arms. And 0:15:38.920 --> 0:15:42.200 in this in two thousand six, Cecil covered the walls 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:45.360 of an M. I. T. Gallery with and I mean 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:47.480 officially not you know, she didn't go in there, just 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:49.720 do it after the lights were out. She had she 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:53.440 had an exhibit. Yeah, imagine like basically imagine walking into 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:55.880 an exhibit hall and it looks like all the paintings 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:58.360 are gone and you're like, oh, I'm kind of bummed out. 0:15:58.360 --> 0:15:59.760 I came here for an art show. And then you 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:03.120 is no, instead of going up and looking at a painting, 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:05.680 you're going up to that blank canvas and you're sniffing. 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:09.240 That's right, because this wall is a metaphor for the skin, right, 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:12.680 And she's basically she's chemically reproduced the molecules from the 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:15.920 sweat of these men that she studied who were suffering fear. 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:18.920 And and you're going up and you're getting to smell 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:22.400 different variations on that odor. And she she mentioned that 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:25.480 there was one individual who had who had been in 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:28.000 the war and uh, and he was smelling like an 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:32.160 Asian um fear odor and the dye was like brought 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:34.240 to tears because he was like, this really takes me 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:37.280 back to this guy who during the war. Is that amazing? 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:40.280 It is amazing? Yeah, yeah, um. And and how she 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:43.200 did this as pretty interesting too. She used micro encapsulation 0:16:43.240 --> 0:16:46.480 technology to produce a gloss paint that releases its scent 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:49.480 when gently touched. Scratch and sniff, yeah, scratch and stiff 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:53.200 wall of fear basically, so you have these nine different 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:56.760 smells of fear, you know, from these nine different men 0:16:57.520 --> 0:16:59.800 and uh, and all of these guys, like you said 0:16:59.840 --> 0:17:02.400 that they collected their sweat during um when they were 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:05.080 under duress. And one of them actually was a guy 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:08.800 who engaged in s and M and so he collected 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:12.680 his perspiration when he visited sex clubs. So he's he's 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:17.399 he has a fearful odor emitting from this upright, because 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:20.560 I mean that's part of his um. I mean, yes, 0:17:20.600 --> 0:17:23.440 he was aroused, but it's he has to experience fear 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:26.000 in order to be aroused. So they were collecting that. 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:28.640 So again that's what we're talking about, like very different situations, 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:31.479 but all of them fear based. Yeah, and so can 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:34.159 you imagine you're just kind of scratching and sniffing around 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:37.200 this wall and you're getting these different profiles of smell, 0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:40.199 and like you said, the guy that that perceived his 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:43.960 friend in this one smell who wasn't obviously his friend 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:46.320 is pretty amazing. Yeah, it kind of boils down to 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:48.600 two to some of the stuff we've talked about about 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:50.480 how their stuff going on in our brain, we're not 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:52.720 conscious off like a lot of stuff under the surface 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:57.240 of the waves of human cognition, and and certainly the 0:17:57.280 --> 0:17:59.920 processing of smells is just another one of those things. Always. 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:01.800 I was just thinking about that too, like how we 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:03.840 arrive at an idea and we keep thinking we have 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:06.640 these aha moments, when in fact we talked about this before, 0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:09.360 like do we actually have free will? But it's all 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:11.520 being Our perception is being colored all the time, and 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:15.240 these ah ha moments rise to the surface after they've 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:19.840 been vetted um in so many different subconscious ways, like 0:18:19.840 --> 0:18:21.919 you said, like smells. So again, like we discussed the 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:25.240 towards the top of the podcast, funky Smell, if we 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:27.639 pair that with a picture of a foot, were repulsed 0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:30.200 pair it with a picture of you know, a fancy 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:34.520 um hard or soft cheese, and we're more likely to salivate, 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:38.720 right right, scratch us. If a wall, we're scared. Um. 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:40.879 But yeah, I mean it is all in the way 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:44.240 that it's uh, it's packaged. And again you have the 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:48.760 odor artists responsible for making something called human bacteria cheese, 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:51.480 which brings the two together into one product. The fear 0:18:51.640 --> 0:18:57.080 in the fear and then the attraction to cheese, and 0:18:57.080 --> 0:18:59.120 here it is in one product. Yeah, yeah, I think 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:01.520 it's fascinating. She wanted to know what happens when I 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:06.080 grow an edible substance from my own body, uh bacteria 0:19:06.160 --> 0:19:09.879 and then eat it. Yeah yeah, So again she this 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:13.800 fascination with smell that she in bacteria. Um. She decided 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:19.520 that this body bacteria would be the ideal organism uh 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:23.640 to carry a smelly bacterium closely related to human armpits 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:26.840 and feet. She took working samples, She collected them from 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:30.240 friends and family, and then she simulated and coagulated them 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:35.560 into a range of ripe taste sensations like Daisy's armpit, 0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:41.000 Philosopher's toe, Chris Christina's hand, and Sile's foot. Well, if 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:43.480 I had to go for one hour ago for Philosopher's toe. Yeah, 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:47.040 I know that sounds like it could be uh nutty, 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:49.480 mild with a surprising end. Yeah, and there's a great 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:52.760 foot in mouth kind of metaphor going oh yeah, yes, yes, 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:56.280 nice nice um. But and you know you had we 0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:59.280 talked about David Beckham's foot before, and it turns out 0:19:59.400 --> 0:20:02.320 that I don't think she actually grew any cheese from 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:06.320 his samples, but she could, that's the the amusing thing. 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:09.200 She could, she absolutely could. But it turns out that 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:14.320 his particular odor has the chemical construction most similar to 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:21.680 a Belgian Limburger cheese. So there, So if you want 0:20:21.680 --> 0:20:25.400 to partake in in our reaction to David Beckham's foot, 0:20:25.440 --> 0:20:27.679 just go find a nice lumburger and give it a whiff. 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:29.560 There you go, There you go. That's that's what we 0:20:29.560 --> 0:20:32.600 were smelling. But it really is an interesting idea that, 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:34.560 you know, if you get very hard up for a 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:36.680