Big Picture Science - Air Apparent
(Repeat) Whether you yawn,
gasp, sniff, snore, or sigh, you’re availing yourself of our very special
atmosphere. It’s easy to take this invisible chemical cocktail for granted, but
it’s not only essential to your existence: it unites you and every other life form
on the planet, dead or alive. The next breath you take likely includes
molecules exhaled by Julius Caesar or Eleanor Roosevelt.
And for some animals,
air is an information superhighway. Dogs navigate with their noses. Their
sniffing snouts help them to identify their owners, detect trace amounts of
drugs, and even sense some diseases. Find out what a dog’s nose knows, and
why no amount of bathing and dousing in perfume can mask your personal
smelliness.
Plus, why your own
schnoz is key to not only enjoying a fine Bordeaux, but to survival of our
species.
Guests:
- Sam Kean – Science writer, author of “Caesar’s Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us”
- Ken Givich – Microbiologist, Guittard Chocolate company
- Alexandra Horowitz – Dog cognition researcher, Barnard College, author of “Being A Dog: Following the Dog Into a World of Smell”
- Rachel Herz – Cognitive neuroscientist, Brown University, author of “Why You Eat What You Eat,” and “The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell”
This repeat podcast originally aired on December 4, 2017
Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/air-apparent
You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.
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