Smells repel and attract; they bring emotionally charged memories to mind; they guide behavior and thought nonconsciously; they give food much of its taste; and the loss of sense of smell can help diagnose disease. But what features of the world do smells pick out? What is the olfactory code?
In her new book, Smellosophy: What the Nose Tells the Mind (Harvar ... Show More
Nov 10
Amie Thomasson, "Rethinking Metaphysics" (Oxford UP, 2025)
The word “metaphysics” conjures up thoughts of very hard questions about reality and deep, perhaps unresolvable, metaphysical mysteries. But is that the right way to think about the subject matter of metaphysics? According to Amie Thomasson, very clearly no. In her new book, Reth ... Show More
1h 3m
Oct 20
Ladelle McWhorter, "Unbecoming Persons: The Rise and Demise of the Modern Moral Self" (U Chicago Press, 2025)
How should one live? What should one do? And what do these questions have to do with being a good person? In Unbecoming Persons: The Rise and Demine of the Modern Moral Self (University of Chicago Press, 2025), Ladelle McWhorter reorients these questions through a genealogy of th ... Show More
1h 10m
Oct 10
S. Orestis Palermos, "Cyborg Rights: Extending Cognition, Ethics, and the Law" (Routledge, 2025)
Until recently, no one could access the detailed contents of your mind directly the way only you can. This level of protection of our mental data was guaranteed by the way we are built biologically – and it can no longer be taken for granted. In Cyborg Rights: Extending Cognition ... Show More
1 h
Mar 2021
What COVID-19 is teaching us about the importance of smell, with Pamela Dalton, PhD
Many people around the world have lost their sense of smell this past year due to COVID-19. Before the pandemic, scientists had already begun to gain a deeper understanding of how sophisticated our sense of smell is and how it is intertwined with our mental and physical health. N ... Show More
34m 1s
Dec 2021
Encore - Unlocking the mysteries of smell, our most underappreciated sense, with Pamela Dalton, PhD
Many people around the world have lost their sense of smell this past year due to COVID-19. Before the pandemic, scientists had already begun to gain a deeper understanding of how sophisticated our sense of smell is and how it is intertwined with our mental and physical health. N ... Show More
34m 43s
Jul 2020
Losing your taste to coronavirus
Taste and smell loss are thought to be two of the most common symptoms of coronavirus, but some of the least understood, persisting long after the virus has gone. Scientists all over the world are racing to find out why Covid-19 is attacking these senses, and what this might teac ... Show More
29m 15s
May 2023
How Smells Influence Our Hormones, Health & Behavior | Dr. Noam Sobel
In this episode, my guest is Noam Sobel, PhD, professor of neurobiology in the department of brain sciences at the Weizmann Institute of Science. Dr. Sobel explains his lab’s research on the biological mechanisms of smell (“olfaction”) and how sensing odorants and chemicals in ou ... Show More
3h 10m
Jun 2023
Odor Receptors, Whale Vocal Fry, Body Donation
Today you’ll learn about what really happens when we get a whiff of something, about the mechanism that allows dolphins to communicate with vocal fry, and the dark and windy history of body donation.Find episode transcripts here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/ep ... Show More
13m 8s