Education

How Your Sense of Smell Helps You Savor Flavor | Body Stuff with Dr. Jen Gunter | TED

Eating pizza with a stuffy nose just isn’t as satisfying — and there’s a reason for that. Dr. Jen Gunter explains how our ability to smell and taste work together to give us a full sensory experience. So whether you’re sniffing the caramelized aroma of coffee, a whiff of trash or a trillion other things,…

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Eating pizza with a stuffy nose just isn’t as satisfying — and there’s a reason for that. Dr. Jen Gunter explains how our ability to smell and taste work together to give us a full sensory experience. So whether you’re sniffing the caramelized aroma of coffee, a whiff of trash or a trillion other things, your brain knows exactly what’s under your nose.

Think you know how your body works? Think again! In this TED original series, Dr. Jen Gunter will share the truth about what’s *really* going on inside you. For more, tune into her podcast, Body Stuff with Dr. Jen Gunter:

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#TED #health #smell

48 Comments

  1. faith(٠٠٩٦٧٧١٣٨٦٢٨٥٧)

    October 5, 2022 at 3:41 pm

    Your sister is from Yemen. My husband is dead. Our circumstances are difficult. We do not have a source of livelihood. We have debts and late rent. The owner of the house is threatening us with eviction and my son is sick. I ask my sisters with compassionate hearts to look at us with an eye of mercy..

  2. Charles

    October 5, 2022 at 3:43 pm

    This is a really cool video, I love the animation

  3. Sojourner Karunā Truth

    October 5, 2022 at 3:45 pm

    I’m sure most picky eating 🍽 grownups, would renounce their sense of smell 👃

    Disliking avocado 🥑 makes you untrustworthy 🌞

  4. Kath Untalan

    October 5, 2022 at 3:45 pm

    That’s why you can barely taste food when you have a cold

  5. itsmontez.com

    October 5, 2022 at 3:46 pm

    Very very interesting

  6. Abhay Anand

    October 5, 2022 at 3:47 pm

    Takes a lot time to launch such video in Body Stuff playlist!

  7. journey to American English

    October 5, 2022 at 3:48 pm

    Oh my god such an informative video

  8. cafn8ed74

    October 5, 2022 at 4:13 pm

    As someone who actually has permanently lost my sense of smell, yes, it stinks (pun intended). On the other hand, to suggest that someone would sooner give up vision, hearing, etc is simply absurd.

    • Ruti Sharoni

      October 5, 2022 at 6:26 pm

      cafn8ed74, you are right, hearing and vision are more important. Last year when the Covid 19 got hold of me I lost my sense of smelling/tasting anything for about 3 weeks My only concern was that it would not be permanent but after 3 weeks everything went back to normal.Must be really nasty like in your case when it is permanent. The doctors can’t find the reason/solution ??!!

    • cafn8ed74

      October 5, 2022 at 6:36 pm

      @Ruti Sharoni it’s not uncommon for a head injury to include damage to the olfactory nerve, which can be permanent. To my knowledge there’s nothing that can be done (or at least that was the case 20+ years ago when I lost my sense of smell.)

  9. sathish kumar

    October 5, 2022 at 4:22 pm

    Oh god , good information

  10. Brian McInnis

    October 5, 2022 at 4:26 pm

    We, uhm…….we knew that. Literally everyone already knew that. It’s like super duper mega obvious.

  11. Christopher Brand

    October 5, 2022 at 4:32 pm

    When I smell bacon I feel sad because I think about the suffering and death of the poor pig. And usually people I love contributed to that suffering by buying the bacon.

    But I am glad that I can smell and that it enriches my enjoyment of food!

  12. Sejal ☀

    October 5, 2022 at 5:24 pm

    I’m currently having a cold. I ate stale curry yesterday due to loss of smell and majority of taste!😢

    • Kyasarin

      October 6, 2022 at 3:29 pm

      same

  13. Obsession of the Month

    October 5, 2022 at 5:47 pm

    my sense of smell appears to be a super power since I can smell things other people don’t smell very well or not at all. the down side to this is lots of foods don’t taste good when you taste ALL the flavors.

  14. Anxxh

    October 5, 2022 at 5:56 pm

    Thank you, my nose😊

  15. David Holaday

    October 5, 2022 at 6:16 pm

    My sense of smell would be the least likely to give up because my sense of smell is the least likely to lie to me.

  16. David Holaday

    October 5, 2022 at 6:16 pm

    My sense of smell would be the least likely for me to give up because it is the least likely to lie to me.

  17. David Holaday

    October 5, 2022 at 6:16 pm

    My sense of smell would be the most likely for me to give up because it is the least likely to lie to me.

  18. rika

    October 5, 2022 at 7:13 pm

    If they told me I would lose ALL my other senses and can keep vision? I would do it if that was the choice. Vision is by far the most important sense for me. I could give up anything else if I had to choose. No question.

    • Mr Rod

      October 5, 2022 at 7:59 pm

      @rika you wouldn’t be able to work the remote control without a sense of touch.

    • rika

      October 5, 2022 at 9:17 pm

      @Mr Rod sure I can. I am a dev ops engineer as well as the sys admin and 95% of my functions are automated/scripted and I have feedback on all commands inputed/typed so I don’t really need to feel the keyboard or mouse click as long as I can see and use my voice

    • Mr Rod

      October 5, 2022 at 9:30 pm

      @rika without a sense of hearing and touch, you will struggle to use your voice properly. Hope you enjoy subtitles.

    • rika

      October 5, 2022 at 9:59 pm

      @Mr Rod ¯_(ツ)_/¯ – if needed I can just get a voice box installed. I do love subtitles, I turn it on for everything even now despite having perfect hearing. It helps me understand and retain information better by listening and reading simultaneously.

    • Mr Rod

      October 5, 2022 at 10:39 pm

      @rika why don’t you just have all your senses bionically restored. Would be more logical than all of your elaborate mechanisms and work arounds.

    • rika

      October 6, 2022 at 4:00 pm

      @Mr Rod the entire point of my original comment was vision would be the very last thing I give up. Would losing all my senses other than vision suck? Yes, who said it wouldn’t? I can lose all my senses and still work but it would be virtually impossible without vision.

      And to answer your latest comment, I would without question matrix myself into a virtual world living eternally and require no senses in a heart beat! 🙂

    • Mr Rod

      October 6, 2022 at 4:29 pm

      @rika yeah, I know what your original comment was about. Just having a bit of fun and light hearted banter.

  19. Mr Rod

    October 5, 2022 at 7:29 pm

    Flavor or Flavour…
    Hor or Hour…

  20. Seph

    October 5, 2022 at 8:06 pm

    I missed these episodes! Happy to see them back 😍

  21. SLM

    October 6, 2022 at 12:48 am

    Yes, anyone who lost their sense of both taste and smell with COVID-19 like I have (going on 9 months now) should be questioning why this phenomenon is so prevalent with this particular virus.

  22. Waseem Raja

    October 6, 2022 at 1:42 am

    I doesn’t have a sense of smell, so that is it means that I cannot enjoy my food fully?

  23. Luis Plata

    October 6, 2022 at 11:53 am

    i have no sense of smell.. 🙁

  24. Kyasarin

    October 6, 2022 at 3:27 pm

    Watching this video with a flu is a painful reminder my sense of smell is gone.

  25. Souvik Roy

    October 7, 2022 at 7:17 am

    Finally you are here !! Happy to see you again …..

  26. Invox

    October 8, 2022 at 7:34 am

    I remember a few years ago a “diet plan” consisted of covering your nose when eating… Guess this was what they were talking about.

  27. ALYAH HODIJAH

    October 8, 2022 at 12:22 pm

    Awesome! Very fun explanations, easy to understand and very well equipped with animations! Indra is indeed something amazing and complementary to each other. I think all the five senses are important, so it’s a bit difficult if I have to choose one:(. And yeah I love food, especially the smell! Very exciting. In my opinion, besides helping in processing taste, smell can also help increase one’s appetite. With smells we can enjoy things better, other examples besides food are clothes that will be more comfortable to wear if they have a pleasant smell and a place that will be more comfortable to live in if equipped with fragrances!

  28. View From The High Chair

    October 9, 2022 at 6:15 pm

    As I was listening to Dr. Gunter, I kept getting a sense of familiarity like I had, perhaps, met her at some point. Eventually I realized she simply reminds me of an actress named Sarayu Rao (Blue) who I quite like. As well as having similar faces, both also have a similar voice. Not quite ‘uncanny’ but similar nevertheless. I’ve decided I like them both. 🥰🤩

  29. Roselle Ann A. Baluat

    October 9, 2022 at 11:17 pm

    I don’t like suka with toyo

    So i tend to smell it first

    Then be angry because i don’t like this sauce for my meal 🤣

    • Roselle Ann A. Baluat

      October 9, 2022 at 11:18 pm

      I like toyo though

    • Roselle Ann A. Baluat

      October 9, 2022 at 11:20 pm

      My mother once said
      I was allergic to cows milk when i was young
      So she had to buy these expensive soy milk
      Because she said i would have rashes on my baby head
      Poor me 🥺🤣

      Then i grew up they force me to drink milk 🤣

      Then i would feel that i don’t like the taste of milk without a lot of sugar or when its not hot

      Then i realized that i like my warm sweet milk with cookies or koko krunch

      When i was young i used to eat the milk powder with sugar
      Then drink water after 🤣

      Then i would tell myself
      Oh i drink the milk and kutaw2 it inside my stomach 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

  30. Roselle Ann A. Baluat

    October 9, 2022 at 11:22 pm

    I smell bread
    Then i tell them its going to be spoiled soon 🤣

    I like my pandesal hot and crunchy 🥺

  31. Roselle Ann A. Baluat

    October 9, 2022 at 11:23 pm

    They put bread inside the ref
    I still dont see the molds

    But you can actually recognize it through the smell 🤣🥺🥺😂🤣🤣🤣🤣

  32. Roselle Ann A. Baluat

    October 9, 2022 at 11:25 pm

    I only interacted and domesticated cats dogs and rhode island chickens
    So i never really tried interacting with wild animals

    When you have a good intention and you want to speak with a friendly good dog. Then that good dog will not bite you because they grew up to be good they know people and how to interact with it

    So when a dog lover goes to a stranger good dog
    They can play together

  33. Roselle Ann A. Baluat

    October 9, 2022 at 11:30 pm

    Oh snakes

    We went to agusan because my aunts uncle and cousins went on a road trip together so that we can get our lola and bring her to places to our relatives

    So then we went to agusan stayed there
    I tried my best to use the bathroom when no one is using it because i tend to enjoy showering

    Tend when i looked up because i was rinsing myself with tabo

    I get so shocked when a snake was sleeping at the top

    I froze

    Then realize the snake was sleeping

    Snake are cold blooded when its hot they need to go to cool places to regulate their temperature

    So when i see the snake sleeping at the bathroom

    I realize it no longer had a place to stay and had to hide there looking like a freaking curled hose because it no longer had a home in the woods

    So i just continued my shower

    When i got out i told my male cousin uncle i dont know relative

    Kuya naa rabay halas sa cr pero di man ata to mamaak

    Then when kuya checked it he said there was a snake but it ran maybe because it was scared of people

  34. Roselle Ann A. Baluat

    October 9, 2022 at 11:35 pm

    I did not know how bike back then when i was young

    Then my mother would say 🤣

    Ayaw sulod sa balay kung di paka maka balance 🤣

    Then i would cry while i bike because i still cant do it well 🤣

    Then i practiced how to drive a motor single

    When i knew how to liko in corners which was super difficult to do when i was starting

    When i did know how to liko in corners

    I was freakin crazy i tried to experience what was it like to drive in the main highway 🤣

    But i’m scared nga naay angkas because i’m small when we crash i cant handle the weight of the motor
    So i would be super responsible to the life of my angkas

    So until i find a motor that i can handle the weight even if i crash i can then handle a angkas that i can actually make sure wont get hurt when i accidentaly crash because i can support both the weight of the motor and the weight of that person

  35. Roselle Ann A. Baluat

    October 9, 2022 at 11:38 pm

    I can be here all day in this comment section 😂😂😂😂😂

  36. Roselle Ann A. Baluat

    October 9, 2022 at 11:41 pm

    I eat too much cake because my sister and mom buys my lovely niece cake every her month birthday

    That i got sick of just good looking cakes 😂

    Thats why i get angry when they buy me cake
    Becuase i wont even eat it why buy it 😂

    Buy something that i would actually love 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

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