Smell

The smell of freshly roasted coffee is now seen by many as an enticing aroma, but that wasn't the case in early 18th century London. It was described as smelling of "fresh urine" and old boots and the… Audio

Harold McGee can explain why cut grass smells like summer and baking bread like home.  Audio

Why does coriander smell like soap to one person, but fragrant and delicious to another? Professor Ann-Sophie Barwich is a cognitive scientist, empirical philosopher and science historian who… Audio

The memories we often remember most are the ones that are highly charged. However, it's also possible, and important, to encode happy memories in your brain with similar intensity. Dr Natalie Dattilo… Audio

Dr Alexy Karenowska wants people to be able to sniff history. She's a magnetician at the University of Oxford, a physicist and engineer who is also the Director of Technology of the Institute of… Audio, Gallery

Gary McLean is a professor in molecular immunology at London Metropolitan University who specialises in infectious diseases, immunology and antibody engineering. He joins the show to look at the big… Audio

Today marks the 400-year anniversary of three dreams that French philosopher René Descartes had, sparking the idea that life could, in fact, be a dream. University of Otago Philosophy Professor… Audio

A dog's nose is one of the most sensitive in the animal kingdom, and scientists at the University of Otago want to see if this can be applied to medical science. Audio

New research out of the University of Otago suggests a strong link between a person's weight and their ability to smell, with obese people worse at detecting and discriminating between different… Audio

Waikato University researchers are training pet dogs to sniff out pest fish such as koi carp. Video, Audio

Otago University scientists have been looking into why some clothes get much smellier than others. Audio

Could our sense of smell be an important factor behind the fact that so many of us are overweight? Andy Dillin at the University of California, Berkeley, was involved in a study on mice that found… Audio

New Zealand scientists are using special smell sensing proteins harvested from the cloned cells of insect antennae to develope a super smell sensor. They hope to use them as part of a device which… Audio

This week, ground-breaking research into how and why flamingoes can stand on one leg; why we tend to shun people who are sick; and the survival of human sperm in space. Audio

Chris Callewaert, a post doctoral scholar from the University of California, San Diego has disovered that replacing the underarm bacteria of a very smelly person, with the bacteria from a less smelly… Audio

Loads of plastic rubbish finds its way into the sea every year and seabirds are hunting it out and eating it, fooled into thinking it's food by the way it smells. Matt Savoca of the University of… Audio

Kim Hill talks to neuroscientist Dr Stuart Firestein, Chair of Columbia University's Department of Biological Sciences, whose lab studies the vertebrate olfactory system, seeking answers to the… Audio