How Smell, Taste & Pheromone-Like Chemicals Control You

This episode I explain how we sense chemicals by way of smell, taste and pheromones. How things smell and taste and bodily chemicals of others have a profound effect on how we feel, what we do and our hormones. I explain the 3 types of responses to smell, the 5 types of tastes, the possible existence of sixth taste sense. I explain how smell and taste reflect brain health and can be used to assess and even promote brain regeneration. Both basic science and protocols are described including how to make sour things taste sweet and how to develop a heightened sense of smell and taste.

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Links:
1. What Is Color? By Arielle & Joann Eckstut
2. The smell of tears lowers testosterone
DOI: 10.1126/science.1198331
3. Inhaling (sniffing) improves non olfactory attention & cognition:
4. Smelling Salts & Improved Athletic Performance
5. Taste Receptors Are Expressed By Ovaries & Testes
doi:10.1093/molehr/gat009

Timestamps:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:06:02 Sensing Chemicals: Smell, Taste & Chemicals That People Make To Control Each Other
00:09:10 Vision Protocols Recap (Brief) & Correction
00:12:20 Color Vision: Excellent Resource: What is Color? (The Book)
00:13:54 How We Sense Chemicals: Enter Our Nose, Mouth, Eyes, Skin
00:17:28 The Chemicals From Other People’s Tears Lower Testosterone & Libido
00:21:16 SMELL: Sniffing, A Piece of Your Brain In Your Nose, 3 Responses To Smells
00:24:40 Smells & Memory: Why They Are So Powerfully Associated
00:26:40 Pheromone Effects: Spontaneous Miscarriage, Males & Timing Female Puberty
00:28:56 Sniffing Creates Alertness & If Done Properly Can Help You Focus & Learn Better
00:34:00 Protocol 1: Sniffing (Nothing) 10-15X Enhances Your Ability to Smell & Taste
00:35:50 Smelling Salts, Ammonia & Adrenaline
00:38:25 How You Can Become A Human Scent Hound, Detecting Cancer, & Tasting Better
00:43:45 Smell As A Readout Of Brain Health & Longevity; Regaining Lost Sense Of Smell
00:48:30 Dopamine, Sense Of Smell, New Neurons & New Relationships
00:50:20 Why Brain Injury Causes Loss Of Smell; Using Smell To Gauge & Speed Recovery
00:53:33 Using Smell To Immediately Becoming Physically Stronger
00:54:40 Smelling In Our Dreams, Active Sniffing In Sleep, Sniffing As a Sign Of Consciousness
00:57:35 Mint Scents Create Alertness By Activating Broad Wake-Up Pathways
00:59:48 Protocol 2 Pleasant Or Putrid: The Microwave Popcorn Test, Cilantro, Asparagus, Musk
01:03:00 Skunks, Costello, All Quiet On The Western Front
01:04:32 TASTE: Sweet, Salty, Bitter, Umami, Sour; Your Tongue, Gustatory Nerve, NST, Cortex
01:08:45 Energy, Electrolytes, Poisons, Gagging, Amino Acid & Fatty Acid Sensing, Fermentation
01:13:48 Our 6th Sense of Taste: FAT Sensing
01:15:05 Gut-Brain: Your Mouth As An Extension Of Your Gut; Burned Mouth & Regeneration
01:19:30 Protocol 3: Learn To Be A Super-Taster By Top-Down Behavioral Plasticity
01:22:20 The Umami-Sweet Distinction: Tigers Versus Pandas
01:25:05 Eating More Plants Versus Eating More Meat, Cravings & Desire
01:27:15 Food That Makes You Feel Good Or Bad: Taste Receptors On Our Testes Or Ovaries
01:30:05 Biological Basis For The Sensuality of Umami and Sweet Foods
01:32:28 Appetitive & Aversive Sensing: Touching Certain Surfaces, Tasting Certain Foods
01:33:35 Amino Acids Are Key To Life, The Maillard Reaction, Smell-Taste Merge, Food Texture
01:39:00 How Processed Food Make You Crave More Processed Foods
01:39:44 Protocol 4: Invert Your Sense of Sweet & Sour: Miracle Fruit; Swapping Bitter & Sweet
01:43:03 Pheromones, Desire To Continue Mating: Coolidge Effect Occurs In Males & Females
01:46:40 Do Women Influence Each Others Menstrual Cycles?
01:49:19 Recognizing the Smell Of Your Romantic Partner
01:50:30 Differences In Odor Detection Ability, Effects Of Hormones
01:53:00 We Rub The Chemicals Of Others On Our Eyes and Skin, Bunting Behavior
01:56:40 Summary

Please note that The Huberman Lab Podcast is distinct from Dr. Huberman's teaching and research roles at Stanford University School of Medicine. The information provided in this show is not medical advice, nor should it be taken or applied as a replacement for medical advice. The Huberman Lab Podcast, its employees, guests and affiliates assume no liability for the application of the information discussed.

[rosarioc.debaca]

The mole I prepare at home, from roasting and grinding ingredients on a pestel, tastes much better than any restaurant prepared. My father taught me how to cook at an early age, and to recognize herb, chile, tomato, fruit & vegetable varies by smell. Now when my granddaughter observes and "helps" when I cook, she easily remembers the smell of ingredients and their Spanish and English names. I don't want her to rely on written recipes but rather to understand food. This activity is exciting for building vocabulary and she code switches effortlessly between English and Spanish. Building my querida's awareness of scents, builds memory, bilingual skills and is so delicious.

[c.l.w.]

I discovered that I was able to smell when my children were running a fever when they were babies. It was a pretty cool gift as a Mom.

[mediokritet]

Back in school I would have never been excited about learning 13 protocols... yet here I am now glued and taking notes

[jonnysusi]

These episodes are great in so many ways, but I think what I like most is that he is so passionate about science that it just becomes infectious. Every time I come home from school and listen to these I just wanna turn around and head straight back to the university to sign up for extra classes.

[missyethio]

Huberman has become my personal neuroscience professor via podcast. And I gain all this knowledge for free! These experiences are one of the pros of technology in our era. I can’t thank you enough for dispensing such precious info to the public!

[TheTenThousandThings]

"-and as always, thank you for your interest in science."
*deafening applause*

[NstyFantasy]

Huberman 2024. Making Brains Great Again!

[Sotov]

People: How much value can you create per second in the podcast?
Huberman: YES!

[PrivateBaba]

I'm a non native English speaker so I know few words and seeking someone help to find a proper word to thank this generous professor. Something especial.

Dr. Huberman you are an amazing human being which quite rarely exists on this plant. My warmest thanks for your efforts. Thanks man.

[MissDeeeeeedee]

I love the part about us shaking hands and touching ourselves just like other animals, especially dogs. That's so sweet.

[WobblyGroulx]

I feel the urge to comment like every ten minutes while I listen… “ohh, I never knew that”. “Andrew what do you think about this??”, “you know you’d be a great guest on Russel Brand”… etc, etc. I appreciate how captivating these are, especially this series on the senses! Thanks.

[ky]

Dropping a quick comment to say 1. You're awesome; 2. Having a summary of the previous episode's tools is incredibly helpful. I've been seeing these episode serially, and it really helps retention when you do that. Thank you so much!

[PacificNorthWestclips]

This podcast is my only source of education at the moment but it’s helping me a lot.

[razvanciuca]

Professor, I'm really unsure here, is this podcast connected to your teaching and research roles at Stanford? And does this science and science-related tools information have any cost to consumers like myself?

[dinalukmanova]

It's interesting that when I had covid and completely lost all sense of smell and taste, I could still smell burning food couple of rooms away from it. It's amazing the nature left this exact smell "working", while anything else I've tried was blank to me.

[CCC-zepj]

Thank you - very interesting as usual. I'm here every Monday. I keep coming back to various podcasts of yours to refresh and repeat. The information density is incredible and yet you communicate so clearly that we lay-people have an opportunity to approach these complex topics and learn practically applicable information for improving quality of life.

[shrirangbondale]

Hey professor I followed your instructions given in previous podcast, and my eyes seem to get relaxed and now my eyes dont have that burning sensation anymore

[ayshaatman]

This episode totally captivated me. I always wanted to know more about smell. I was born with a very developed sense of smell and I was really wondering if I'm normal ... some unpleasant smells make me faint and some pleasant smells really give me vitality and an exceptional mood. I heard many interesting things in this episode that aroused my interest in more detailed research. Thank you, Professor Huberman !!! P.S .: How many of you love the smell of new books and notebooks?

[jodirowe]

This is so mind opening. For years, my family believed I was Psychic because I could tell who had been in my house, without being there, could determine what someone was cooking at 2 steps in their home, knew when a certain employee arrived off the elevator one floor away. I also taste specific ingredients in wine (vanilla, plum, oak, cinnamon, etc) without reading the narratives of wines.
I wonder how much influence of my heightened sensory came from my mothers obsession with bleach and chemicals in my childhood home influenced thus.

[conornagle]

Tuning in every Monday from over in Ireland. Please keep doing what you're doing, Hubes!