Imagine spraying yourself with a flowery fragrance but all you can smell is rotting flesh?

Our senses can be surprisingly strange, especially when they malfunction due to injury, disease or genetic abnormalities. In this episode, neurologist Dr Guy Leschziner, explores two senses, smell and taste - separate yet inextricably linked.

We meet Joanne, whose sense of smell is so distorted after a heavy cold, even freshly-cut grass smells repulsive.

We hear from Walter who loves to cook and eat German cuisine but finds that pleasure is ruined when everything, even fine wine, tastes of metal. What causes this glitch in signalling from the taste buds on his tongue to the area of the brain processing taste?

By contrast, 15 year-old Abi’s sense of taste is working properly. She can tell if her food is sweet or salty. But Abi was born without a sense of smell (anosmia), which also means anything she eats has no flavour – because that’s created by smell and taste working together. If you want to imagine Abi’s life, listen out for the jelly bean test.

Loss of smell, an early symptom of coronavirus, has raised awareness of this important, yet neglected sense, often only appreciated when it’s gone. Yet so vital it’s wired directly to parts of the brain responsible for memories and emotion.

Through Joanne, Abi and Walter we learn how disorders of our sensory system can help explain the way our bodies interact with the outside world. And discover how what we believe to be reality is often very far from the truth.

Presenter: Dr Guy Leschziner
Producer: Sally Abrahams Show less