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The Compass: The Senses: The senses: Smell and taste

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compassElenaWithFlowers The Senses Smell Taste E.4.jpg

19/08/2020 GMT

The senses: Smell and taste

The Senses

BBC World Service - The Compass, The Senses, The senses: Smell and taste

‘Everything smelled of rotting flesh, even perfume’: What happens when smell goes wrong?

‘Everything smelled of rotting flesh, even perfume’.  How tiny defects in our sensory system can have enormous consequences on how we perceive the world.

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 also 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. 

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. 

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.

Produced by Sally Abrahams for the BBC World Service.


Photo: Abi in a field of yellow flowers. Credit BBC

The Compass: The Senses

Neurologist Guy Leschziner explores the surprisingly strange world of our senses.

Neurologist Guy Leschziner explores the surprisingly strange world of our senses - how imperfect messages pass from our fingertips, ears, eyes, noses and tongues to our brains. We meet extraordinary individuals, whose senses have been altered in some way, providing important insights into how we perceive reality. The way listeners understand the world will never be the same again.

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