| 00:02 | This is lecture 20 of Neuroscience or , Thursday section. And we're going |
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| 00:11 | talk about olfaction. We already introduced a little bit when we discussed COVID-19 |
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| 00:19 | and we'll come back and talk about some more when we talk about COVID-19 |
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| 00:26 | again in a couple of lectures. so you have odor molecule from the |
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| 00:35 | flying around their natural odors. There chemical odors and you inhale air through |
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| 00:44 | mouth and through your nostrils. And you inhale the air, it stimulates |
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| 00:53 | olfactory epithelium. And in particular, olfactory receptor ending is the CIA of |
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| 01:03 | receptor cells of these factor receptor cells are located in this mucous layer of |
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| 01:11 | is overall described as the the epithelial ofelia. Now, these cells are |
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| 01:20 | by uh supporting cells, basal you'll also learn about these systems, |
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| 01:28 | cells and that information was communicated up the olfactory bowl. And so a |
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| 01:40 | of uh what you perceive as smell flavor is not only when you inhale |
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| 01:48 | through your nostrils, but also when are eating something or when you're drinking |
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| 01:57 | . Because for taste, we can salty sweet umami, sour, |
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| 02:06 | but we cannot perceive sweet banana versus strawberry. And the flavor component of |
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| 02:17 | lot of foods comes from us smelling food or those drinks as we're swallowing |
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| 02:26 | into the oral cavity. A lot these odorant like even for example, |
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| 02:32 | carbonated drinks will rise up into the cavity and will give a certain flavor |
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| 02:39 | that product or that food. That is ingesting. So, olfactory transduction |
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| 02:50 | Olfa receptor molecules. So what happens that odorant in this mucus bind to |
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| 02:58 | of many receptor molecules. These receptor and they bind to odorant receptor |
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| 03:08 | These odorant molecules and the binding of odorant molecules is a G protein metabotropic |
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| 03:18 | whereby there is activation of a dental , production, increased production conversion of |
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| 03:26 | T P and production of cyclic A , cyclic A MP is a targeting |
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| 03:38 | ion channel and this ion channel allows influx of both sodium and calcium and |
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| 03:48 | influx of calcium here opens calcium gated channel. So that's something we haven't |
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| 03:58 | before. And most of the membrane depolarization and depolarization overall is contributed |
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| 04:10 | this intracellular calcium increases and also because the chloride exiting the cell. So |
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| 04:20 | calcium chloride channels will allow for fluoride leave a negative charge, leaving |
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| 04:29 | will contribute to the overall membrane depolarization the depolarization of these receptor CIA and |
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| 04:39 | factor receptor cells. So at the of the cell, we have the |
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| 04:47 | potentials. The greater potentials. How you understand greater potential? Some odors |
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| 04:55 | very strong that are weak so strong . The same odor, let's say |
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| 05:02 | will cause a strong receptor potential. strong depolarization, a weak odor of |
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| 05:10 | . The same kind may cause much depolarization, much smaller potential. Then |
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| 05:21 | cell in the in the soma will . These are the dendrites is the |
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| 05:28 | is a so there will be action that are generated there and they're conducted |
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| 05:37 | cranial nerve one which is the olfactory . Mhm. So these olfactory receptor |
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| 05:48 | , they will comprise the olfactory Now, what's what's interesting is that |
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| 06:02 | receptor cells. So we have a of these receptor cells distributed millions and |
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| 06:10 | of them in the factory of the . Ok. And each receptor cell |
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| 06:17 | a single factor receptor protein. So receptor protein, the binding of this |
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| 06:28 | in each one of these receptor cells unique. And in this picture, |
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| 06:38 | fact that these cells have unique receptor is represented by different colors. |
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| 06:47 | So these Olfa receptor neurons, different are distinguished by containing a different odor |
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| 06:56 | proteins. Mhm. Now, if expose the fact eli to a citrus |
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| 07:08 | that citrus smell, the odorant molecule activate the receptor proteins that are in |
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| 07:17 | green cells, but they'll also activate receptor proteins to a lesser extent. |
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| 07:24 | see lesser number of action potentials in blue proteins. So that means that |
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| 07:29 | receptor proteins, they can be responsive receptor proteins. Three receptor proteins can |
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| 07:37 | receptive and can be responsive to one . Right now, red doesn't |
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| 07:46 | So, floral smell will activate green proteins, blue and red to a |
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| 07:56 | extent, peppermint green, a little of blue and a lot of red |
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| 08:03 | smell. It will not activate the cells at all. A little bit |
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| 08:08 | the blue and a lot of the cells. So one odor can activate |
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| 08:16 | subtypes of these receptor neurons and multiple of these proteins that are binding |
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| 08:29 | Yes, I don't know if. how do you tell the difference? |
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| 08:35 | difference? Like I I, how they different? They will uh they |
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| 08:44 | be slightly structurally different. And so of these receptor proteins will be |
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| 08:53 | for example, to banana. And will be a certain structure on this |
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| 08:58 | receptor protein that will allow for banana bind and activate the g cascade and |
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| 09:05 | there will be another receptor with another protein and that will not be activated |
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| 09:12 | the banana odor. So do they to different or it's like being, |
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| 09:23 | know, I'm sorry, I'm just , you characterize the cells by their |
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| 09:31 | to different odor molecules. Yes. But the response is different and the |
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| 09:38 | of that response is different and that's I showed that we can see that |
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| 09:44 | the same three types of cells, , blue and red, but only |
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| 09:51 | of them are responsive when there's citrus and two others are only responsive. |
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| 09:57 | , there's almond smell. So, . Yeah. So let's say for |
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| 10:04 | certain because if you have like receptors that, that don't have a mutation |
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| 10:13 | it can't perceive that in terms of , does it get compensated anywhere |
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| 10:20 | So one thing is that if if you're asking about plasticity, you're |
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| 10:27 | talking about when you lose a sense smell and that happens in COVID and |
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| 10:32 | regain it. Another thing is that can selectively not recognize certain smells and |
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| 10:39 | could be a genetic pattern of expression you have. And also some people |
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| 10:45 | very sensitive uh o perception and others . Uh and it's something that you |
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| 10:54 | also train yourself. So people get a lot of money to smell things |
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| 11:00 | people uh that uh understand smells also charge a lot of money because |
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| 11:10 | we spend a lot of uh money perfumes and deodorants and things like |
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| 11:17 | that smell. So we'll, we'll about more some more of this |
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| 11:22 | in a little bit. Hold on second, maybe we'll answer some of |
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| 11:26 | questions better. Uh Now let's talk this. So this is the cribriform |
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| 11:33 | that you have in the skull that these rations or opening. That's where |
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| 11:37 | have these olfactory nerves coming through. that's why it's also physically a good |
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| 11:46 | for the viruses to infiltrate essentially into brain to infect the brain. And |
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| 11:53 | in the olfactory bulb, you have order olfactory neurons. And from that |
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| 12:01 | on it is now an optic Ok. So here these fibers are |
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| 12:08 | nerve, uh uh olfactory nerve and is olfactory tract. Did I say |
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| 12:14 | tract, olfactory tract? Ok. uh so how is this information going |
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| 12:23 | the secondary neurons in the glomus? . This is uh glomus right |
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| 12:31 | This is olfactory ball and this is . And what is that structure and |
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| 12:38 | of the Glaus. So each glo information from only a specific type of |
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| 12:49 | that expresses a specific odorant receptor protein epithelium. It's dispersed throughout and randomly |
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| 13:05 | . But when it comes to the , all of the blue cells will |
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| 13:10 | in to this glomus. All of red cells will innervate the red |
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| 13:18 | the green cells will innervate the green . OK. So in the actual |
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| 13:24 | , it's randomly dispersed, but then gets organized where all of the specific |
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| 13:32 | receptors with specific protium uh innervate the glomus. Now, this is interesting |
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| 13:45 | here you have information that goes from olfactory bulb, the olfactory tracked and |
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| 13:54 | goes into the olfactory cortex and related temporal lobe structures. And then there's |
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| 14:03 | pathway that goes from this olfactory tubercle and into the thalamus, the medial |
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| 14:13 | nucleus of the thalamus and from the into the orbital frontal cortex. So |
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| 14:23 | is a little bit different these projections everything that we've looked at so |
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| 14:28 | vision glaus cortex, except there was visual input going into the superior |
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| 14:39 | right, auditory one from cochlea one brain stem nuclei, auditory cortex |
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| 14:46 | So again, here you have essentially a divergence of this pathway. One |
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| 14:56 | goes through thalamus, which is obviously conscious perception of smell and the interrelated |
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| 15:05 | orbital thrombo cortex. And here there's input that bypasses and it goes to |
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| 15:14 | lobe structures. It actually goes into limbic system and the portions of olfactory |
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| 15:22 | too. So in a way, is two different pathways for processing the |
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| 15:33 | . One is the perception, conscious of smell. The other one is |
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| 15:37 | emotional component of smell and that's what smells have such strong relationship with |
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| 15:46 | A lot of coms because there's a strong input from olfactory bald into the |
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| 15:55 | lobe structures, including hippocampus and the system and the limbic system is responsible |
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| 16:04 | for the emotional component. So part the limbic system is Amygdala that was |
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| 16:11 | last lecture when Rama Chandran was des an emotional component of the facial |
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| 16:20 | So that's why smells quite often have strong correlation, you know, you're |
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| 16:29 | pancakes and then all of a sudden transported with these stories of your mother |
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| 16:37 | your grandmother cooking for you. And like the whole thing unfolds in your |
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| 16:43 | . Very strong. We actually depend the sense of smell more so than |
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| 16:49 | like to think a lot of times know about it. OK. So |
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| 16:57 | we looked at different activity maps and said that when we're imaging neuron |
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| 17:03 | we can use different types of imaging . Here, it's a fluorescent protein |
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| 17:10 | to intracellular calcium levels, right. we're imaging calcium increases, calcium |
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| 17:20 | In this case are synonymous with Calcium increases. Here can be very |
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| 17:28 | observed uh in the rodents that have large olfactory bulbs. And you can |
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| 17:37 | a dive to the olfactory balls. can expose olfactory balls and you can |
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| 17:41 | them without even opening the skull. such a technique as shaving the skull |
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| 17:48 | it becomes translucent see-through and you can image the activity in the olfactory |
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| 17:58 | So this shows the activity of factory map when an animal is stimulated with |
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| 18:09 | smell. And in this case, a fruity smell. So, olfactory |
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| 18:19 | because you're stimulating different olfactory receptor OK. That then converge onto their |
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| 18:35 | you're imaging. Now, an activation one very strong glomeruli here. That's |
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| 18:44 | to m and another one just like had here, two types of |
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| 18:51 | Sorry, two types of cells responsive one odor like citrus and fruity smell |
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| 19:01 | this glori los but it also activates number of other olfactory receptor cells and |
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| 19:09 | and produces a different map. So is the activity map or neuronal activity |
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| 19:17 | into the olfactory bulb that represents mint minty smell and fruity smell. |
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| 19:29 | You can also look in the olfactory and you can also look at individual |
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| 19:40 | . So is here, obviously, don't have a resolution of a single |
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| 19:46 | . But here you can imagine activity a single cell and you can image |
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| 19:52 | of those active cortex. You have or py smell. It's alpha |
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| 19:59 | a Turpin called alpha pine py It smells like resin or pine forests |
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| 20:07 | everywhere you see green cells activated. is the map ma for piny |
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| 20:17 | red cells represent activity and activation by and citrusy smells, octin green |
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| 20:26 | Hexen is cut grass. This is cut grass map and this is a |
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| 20:33 | . The fruity map and wherever there overlap, you see yellow. |
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| 20:40 | So there's a lot more overlap, you see more yellow here than |
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| 20:48 | So there's more overlap between the receptor and cells and the map that processes |
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| 20:56 | smells and fruity smells as compared to and fruity smells um you know, |
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| 21:05 | his own, but this is the . Yes. Um So as we |
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| 21:10 | , like other animals have a more space to like prima primary um sensory |
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| 21:18 | , I guess. Um specifically like old battery mold does that also mean |
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| 21:22 | they have more receptors in that plate in our old bacter um proportionately with |
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| 21:30 | rest of the size of the Yes, but not necessarily more than |
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| 21:34 | do. Or the packing density might different too. But yeah, that's |
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| 21:39 | good way to think about it. there are those systems in rodents, |
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| 21:42 | example, the size of the factory is so huge that it will be |
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| 21:47 | lot of brain space dedicated to processing factor information just like there was a |
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| 21:52 | of brain space dedicated for the Brisa Whisker pad. Uh So not a |
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| 21:58 | information processing. Yeah. So these odor maps, right? Ok. |
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| 22:07 | is it only in rodents or is everywhere in humans? And this is |
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| 22:12 | map? Well, we're smelling a of times uh turps, odor molecules |
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| 22:22 | Turin noid. So they are odor from pretty much almost anything that can |
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| 22:30 | it. Turbines are natural. But you have a lot of chemical things |
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| 22:34 | gasoline and gas station flowers. There's oranges, there's Tarpan and we inhale |
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| 22:45 | air deodorants and it activates olfactory B it activates the blue line and produces |
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| 22:53 | that. But look at this This is a person's imaging of the |
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| 23:05 | as the person is smelling the the flower. You can see that |
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| 23:11 | not only olfactory bulb, it's not olfactory cortex, it's a lot of |
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| 23:17 | temporal lobe areas and limbic areas that activated following some of these projections that |
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| 23:25 | discussed here along the olfactory system So, are smells, only smells |
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| 23:39 | do smells generate quite extensive maps of , which is physiological changes in their |
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| 23:48 | activity. So, it's not just because that physiological change in the |
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| 23:55 | which will then influence your response or behavior or your motor activity, you |
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| 24:01 | be attracted by smell, you may completely repulsed by smell and and therefore |
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| 24:09 | mood will change, your behavior will . Maybe we will even shout at |
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| 24:14 | or you hug them. So it's just psychology and I encourage everyone to |
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| 24:22 | about, you know, things like . Uh a lot of times it's |
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| 24:29 | as pseudoscience, but then a lot scientists and medical doctors will have um |
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| 24:41 | that diffusers or nebulizers that air, know, different piny smells. So |
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| 24:51 | smells, it helps them relax. is that, is that pseudoscience? |
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| 24:57 | it psychology? Is it neuropsych Is it neuropsychiatry? Is it, |
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| 25:06 | it really just psychology or is it ? It's physiology of the brain. |
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| 25:12 | activity maps is a map for the math for rose, the mass |
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| 25:16 | banana, a map for and that will activate different pathways in our |
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| 25:24 | So think about that. No two molecules smell the same. So would |
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| 25:33 | a natural molecules, they'll have a structures. You see they all have |
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| 25:37 | structures. So they will not smell same, which means they will not |
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| 25:42 | the same map of activity in the factor cortexes throughout the brain period. |
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| 25:49 | . Um So obviously sounds like they but like for the more harmful and |
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| 25:57 | chemicals or like smell them or like exactly is the target in the |
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| 26:05 | It targets the same factor receptor uh nauseous smells and uh they can |
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| 26:12 | harmful but a lot of times we run away or cover our noses if |
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| 26:20 | can, if it's really kind of like pungent toxic smells. So, |
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| 26:25 | it would be the same pathway. just they may have different binding uh |
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| 26:30 | . So a different way of interacting these receptor proteins and some smells can |
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| 26:36 | in your nostrils for a very long . So some odor molecules can really |
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| 26:41 | up to this receptor proteins and stay up for a while while others are |
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| 26:47 | lot more volatile. Um We'll talk that in a second. Maybe that |
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| 26:55 | your question. There's some chemicals that only have a small window that you |
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| 27:01 | them and concentration, small window. . Let's let's let's talk about |
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| 27:11 | maybe I will answer this question. on a second. So, um |
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| 27:18 | . So this is the brain map some mouse, right? And this |
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| 27:25 | a little bit of fund, the Kate mclean and this is the map |
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| 27:35 | Edinburgh, but it's not like your , map Google maps. But this |
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| 27:45 | , what she did is she walked the city and wherever you see, |
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| 27:52 | green dot that represents sea sand and , blue represents Brewery M and |
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| 28:04 | There's another kind of indigo vaults and streets, orange uh boys toilets in |
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| 28:13 | schools. Uh another lighter almost yellow and chip shops, cherry blossoms, |
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| 28:25 | and so on. So where do have uh sea and sand smell? |
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| 28:33 | this is the sea and sand smell it kind of a spreads in this |
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| 28:37 | according to the artist. And she around and she drew this right. |
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| 28:44 | then uh this is voice toilet over right there. It's going that direction |
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| 28:50 | there. There's a couple more uh . Wow Brewery, 123 and lots |
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| 29:02 | blue. So the whole city smells beer. Edinburgh, right? They're |
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| 29:08 | for breweries beers. So now imagine you did not have your cell phone |
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| 29:17 | you did not have a street But you were given this map and |
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| 29:25 | map and you were told that you to close your eyes and you can |
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| 29:33 | your ears open, but close your and find, find the beach. |
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| 29:44 | you would walk, walk, walk, let's say I'm coming from |
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| 29:47 | direction I saw oh boys toilet, ? You go to the right boys |
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| 29:53 | . OK. I'm over here. here. I don't have any other |
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| 29:57 | . This is it. So then I want to get to the |
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| 30:00 | it's already uh this is new cut here in front. So the beach |
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| 30:05 | be over here to the right. then wherever street locations or something I |
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| 30:11 | turn and then I would follow the grass. I smell it, smell |
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| 30:16 | . It's ending. Oh, luckily another boy's toilet here I can smell |
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| 30:21 | then just around the corner is the on and here the ocean waves, |
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| 30:29 | uh actually quite useful that uh we have maps like these. These are |
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| 30:37 | sensory maps if you can imagine. we have visual maps. We |
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| 30:42 | you know, cryptography, geom uh sometimes sound maps or visually impaired |
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| 30:53 | the streets. But it would be to have a small map of U |
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| 31:00 | H campus, for example. Uh do an experiment of how well can |
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| 31:07 | you find a location based on smells you have your eyes closed? So |
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| 31:12 | leave that for the next semester for group project. So, turps that |
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| 31:18 | smelling these molecules, any large very large group of hydrocarbons found in |
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| 31:23 | essential oils plants, Conifer, citrus . They're based on the cyclic cyclic |
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| 31:29 | having the formula C 10, age . And Doctor Luca Turin, uh |
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| 31:36 | is a TED talk by Doctor We're gonna talk uh watch a little |
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| 31:40 | TED talk but Doctor Luca Turin has the secrets of, of, |
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| 31:48 | of perfumes and he's written the The Secret of Scent where he developed |
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| 31:55 | whole theory and system of how to different smells together. And he uh |
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| 32:06 | for some of the most famous perfume in, in, in France. |
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| 32:14 | and I encourage you to look at uh TED talk or I ha I |
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| 32:20 | a book, I read the I really liked it. Um but |
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| 32:23 | talks about, for example, perfume where he is an expert at and |
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| 32:31 | about how well they have developed the and how much of marketing and how |
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| 32:39 | of economics goes into selling people's smells how certain places in the world are |
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| 32:47 | famous. You know, you go like Dubai, it's like, oh |
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| 32:52 | , just like the smells and the oil is incredible, you know, |
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| 32:56 | you don't smell it anywhere else in world if you smell other things in |
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| 33:00 | other parts of the world and then go to French uh perfume House in |
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| 33:04 | or here, you know, and very different smells but people will spend |
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| 33:11 | on a, on a few milliliters some essential oil, wood oil ager |
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| 33:18 | or something else. Uh you perfumes, uh Western perfumes are also |
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| 33:27 | expensive. Hundreds of dollars, they're , you carry them on your body |
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| 33:33 | a while and then they dissipate. so uh perfume industry has also perfected |
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| 33:41 | to sell smells online and think about uh that you can hear a sound |
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| 33:50 | somebody can send you a voice You can get a photograph and image |
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| 33:57 | to you, right? But nobody send you a smile. Wow, |
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| 34:08 | can. So imagine if there was little device that you mounted on the |
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| 34:19 | . Uh and just like you have for different colors to print different |
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| 34:26 | You have these different odor molecules stacked here and like let's say 5000 micro |
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| 34:36 | of different odor molecules, right? your friend send you a message digital |
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| 34:44 | , uh let's say the the beach you open that message on your |
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| 34:52 | email message, you open the image the beach and this device on your |
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| 34:59 | all of a sudden released those specific that represent the beach. So it's |
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| 35:06 | like virtual reality. You still don't that in virtual reality. Even meta |
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| 35:10 | even incorporated that right? That's like whatever. Hopefully Microsoft is working. |
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| 35:18 | , this is a multi multi unicorn here right here. So sme gram |
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| 35:26 | spo gram. It would save you lot of uh money. It would |
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| 35:32 | you a lot of time people uh online predominantly and you cannot smell another |
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| 35:41 | . And there's a lot of instances people meet and they like everything about |
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| 35:46 | profile, everything about their brain and , but the smells, just the |
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| 35:53 | , whatever the smells don't match. now you've just wasted all this time |
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| 35:58 | all this, if you're on a or something like that, you |
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| 36:02 | you drove for an hour and all that just didn't work out. Wouldn't |
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| 36:05 | be nice if it, with the of a person, their body body |
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| 36:12 | came through too? So, and actually something that's been, that, |
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| 36:18 | being investigated and, and is being because I think that we could have |
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| 36:23 | code for or uh an odor code each individual too. But for perfume |
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| 36:30 | , things smell good. And uh very top notes are short carbon |
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| 36:39 | short carbon chain molecules, they last to minutes. So typically when you |
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| 36:44 | a perfume or something is missed, citrusy smells, they're very volatile. |
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| 36:51 | the shorter the carbon chains, the the molecules, the more easily they |
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| 36:58 | . Ok. Alcohol, for is really volatile. So if you |
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| 37:02 | a little uh milliliter of alcohol in desk overnight and the milliliter of essential |
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| 37:09 | on the desk in the morning, may not find any alcohol, it's |
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| 37:13 | evaporate very volatile essential oil, which also volatile, but it's gonna contain |
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| 37:21 | that are larger and less volatile. you'll still smell it, but it's |
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| 37:25 | gonna evaporate there and they take five for it to to to operate. |
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| 37:32 | longer molecules is what are referred to heart notes and then it's and hours |
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| 37:39 | are bottom notes, they are last and days and we cannot smell anything |
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| 37:45 | is 16 carbons, the chains, molecules and their structures, carbon, |
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| 37:54 | , carbon, carbon, carbon, , carbon, carbon. So, |
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| 37:58 | they are longer or over 16 carbon , we cannot perceive the smells. |
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| 38:07 | when we're gonna talk about uh medical and medical cannabis, one of the |
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| 38:14 | smelling flowers in the world is flour or, or marijuana, |
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| 38:20 | marijuana scent. And this is not we smell. We cannot smell |
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| 38:27 | What we smell is we smell t the odor molecules, right? But |
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| 38:34 | a lot of molecules that we think smell like in cannabis. For |
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| 38:40 | it has very pungent smell, but not smelling the actual active ingredients like |
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| 38:46 | . Instead you are smelling and perceiving molecules or turps. So the better |
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| 38:55 | smell, the fresher, the the fresher, the fruit, and |
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| 38:59 | stronger the allergies too. When you shop in the grocery store, you |
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| 39:05 | up cantaloupe or melon or something like . And maybe most, maybe some |
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| 39:15 | kind of small. And then if don't smell it, it's supposed to |
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| 39:20 | sweet, you don't smell it, you're gonna try another one and maybe |
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| 39:23 | other one is gonna smell and you're pick that one. So it's it's |
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| 39:29 | uh but also the more odor the more volatile molecules that have hot |
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| 39:35 | the nature. They also could be , they can be allergens, they |
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| 39:39 | signal allergies. Too. And uh thing to consider or a couple of |
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| 39:47 | to consider when we talk about uh is aroma psychophysiology. I invented |
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| 39:58 | Aroma is you have aromatherapy aroma psycho it is affecting your mental state and |
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| 40:10 | because odors affects the physiological activity in brain and therefore the understanding the perceptions |
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| 40:19 | the motor outputs the other interesting So this is related to neuroscience or |
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| 40:26 | writes a book called a psychophysiology or . And that is interesting area to |
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| 40:34 | about when thinking about the brain and is neuroeconomics. Yeah. So if |
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| 40:42 | understand how brain works, you may understand how people make decisions and choices |
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| 40:51 | purchasing certain goods and certain products. believe me, large corporations have armies |
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| 40:59 | people sitting around and just thinking about to get in your brain with all |
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| 41:08 | ads, what color, what where, what time of the |
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| 41:14 | how you know, so that you just click, click that buy or |
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| 41:20 | that open, click, you and then you're, that's it, |
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| 41:24 | the sale is done, you and then it's in the shopping |
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| 41:28 | So it's neuroeconomics. But it's really to think about these things and think |
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| 41:33 | how neuroeconomics would change. If you digital s small grams that were available |
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| 41:40 | be a lot of different ways of with people. And also for many |
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| 41:46 | purposes too, relaxation purposes, meditation , not just consumer goods and stuff |
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| 41:52 | that. So, ok. So , uh, to end this |
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| 42:00 | we're going to watch a, an TED talk and, uh, I |
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| 42:07 | know if I'm gonna ask any questions this TED talk. Uh, I'll |
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| 42:12 | about it. If I, if do, maybe I'll, I'll |
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| 42:15 | uh, that our next lecture on . But let's enjoy this, |
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| 42:20 | this, this TED talk about odors years ago, something happened to me |
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| 42:48 | changed my life. And the way look at history, I walked into |
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| 42:53 | building and there was something off, wrong. There was this very pungent |
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| 42:59 | smell and it wasn't that the smell that awful by itself. But it |
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| 43:04 | the whole context because I was in final year as an art history student |
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| 43:09 | I visited an art show in Venice I was thinking, I'm supposed to |
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| 43:15 | at things here not to smell. , did something happen in the |
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| 43:20 | an accident. This is really disturbing aesthetic gaze. That's what I was |
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| 43:25 | . And only hundreds of meters I smelled the source and I saw |
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| 43:31 | source of my irritation and it turned to be this work of art by |
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| 43:38 | , NATO, I was flabbergasted. was amazed, I thought can smell |
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| 43:45 | be part of art. Then. am I as an art historian supposed |
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| 43:49 | think about this? How am I to handle this? So I did |
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| 43:53 | any other sane person would do. decided to become a smell historian and |
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| 44:01 | found amazing examples of our volatile heritage smelly art that we will share with |
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| 44:08 | today. But first we're going to a crash course of smelling. You |
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| 44:14 | all handed a stick, a smell . Do you have it? Uh |
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| 44:22 | people don't have it. Maybe you borrow one of your neighbor. We |
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| 44:28 | two eyes and we have two ears perceive ambient. But why do you |
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| 44:33 | we have two nostrils? Let me or repeat after me, close one |
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| 44:39 | smell, do the same thing with other one. Now, who has |
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| 44:47 | strongest perception on the right side, raise your hands and who has the |
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| 44:53 | perception on the left side? don't worry, you're all the |
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| 44:58 | I'll explain why there's a constant fast flow in one of your nostrils and |
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| 45:04 | slow one in the other because some are only detectable in slow or fast |
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| 45:09 | flows. So in order to perceive , you have to use both nostrils |
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| 45:16 | smell three dimensionally. And here he every three hours, this changes your |
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| 45:23 | take shifts. So now that you're experts smell, we can start the |
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| 45:29 | of this presentation. Let me take back 2000 years ago. You all |
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| 45:35 | this building, the Colosseum in Rome you all know what happened there. |
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| 45:41 | and animals fought each other to There must have been the smell of |
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| 45:46 | , the smell of blood, the of decay, the smell of excrement |
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| 45:51 | elephants and giraffes. That's not what defusing right now. Don't worry, |
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| 46:00 | Romans have clever ways to hide these . What you're actually looking at is |
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| 46:07 | largest smell diffusing system that has ever our planets. There was an elaborate |
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| 46:12 | system in the colosseum pipes ending in statues have once adorned the arches and |
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| 46:19 | this smell was diffused, that's also your stick. And that's sometimes there |
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| 46:26 | more apparent cues to our volatile You probably recognize this story as |
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| 46:32 | The three kings offering gifts to Jesus of what they were gold frankincense. |
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| 46:39 | so two smells. Did you ever why did these three kings offer a |
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| 46:47 | child? Smells? You have to that in these days resins were extremely |
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| 46:54 | and extremely expensive and they were suitable to pharaohs, to priests, to |
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| 47:02 | , even to God himself, they burned through smoke. Hence still our |
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| 47:08 | of the word perfume. What you . Now, you've read the word |
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| 47:14 | times. You've probably never smelled It smells quite bitter, which is |
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| 47:18 | exact meaning of the word. And the middle ages, this was seen |
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| 47:25 | symbolic. The bitterness of this resin thought to carry a prophecy in its |
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| 47:32 | dimension. So the bitterness stood for future suffering. So smells as |
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| 47:40 | So history can tell us a lot smells but sometimes smells can also tell |
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| 47:45 | a lot about history. As a historian, I stick my nose into |
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| 47:50 | things. Things you cannot even I smelled mummies here. I'm smelling |
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| 47:56 | ancient fragrant piece of jewelry. I've to antique apothecary cabinets and I've also |
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| 48:05 | perfumed wigs in the 18th century. wealthy perfumed their wigs. The Amsterdam |
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| 48:13 | has a wig of an 18 th Amsterdam mayor. And I wanted to |
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| 48:18 | if I could figure out which perfumes might have used. So I went |
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| 48:23 | , I was a bit hesitant at because of course, it's very |
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| 48:27 | It's something someone wore close to his . But I lend I bent |
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| 48:34 | use both nostrils, inhales no but I did smell something else. |
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| 48:42 | smelled this animal. This wig was made of horse hair and only the |
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| 48:50 | people, the chic people used real . So this mayor was either tied |
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| 48:56 | a budget or quite Everest. Thank . And the smell of horses, |
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| 49:04 | might, the people at the back smell it a bit later. But |
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| 49:07 | horse is arriving right now. I the smell of horses always takes me |
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| 49:14 | to my childhood because I used to horseback riding and I bet you all |
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| 49:19 | this feeling you enter a room, smell something suddenly you're back at your |
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| 49:24 | house. Smell is apparently the strongest of memories of early memories and the |
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| 49:31 | is even people suffering from Alzheimer's dementia lose their olfactory memory. An olfactory |
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| 49:41 | , smell artist made use of this in a home for the elderly people |
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| 49:47 | from Alzheimer's can hardly find their All the hallways look the same. |
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| 49:51 | get confused, they get lost, since beer installed his smell of |
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| 49:56 | Now, each hallway smells different and can simply follow their noses. And |
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| 50:01 | the same time, childhood memories are and this is extremely reassuring for people |
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| 50:07 | often do not even remember who they . And in the different seasons, |
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| 50:16 | smells are diffused and one of them being diffused right now. And I |
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| 50:22 | it will also trigger some childhood memories you. It gets a bit mingled |
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| 50:29 | the horse right now too. I , you can tell by people's faces |
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| 50:41 | the front road, they recognize the has other unique capacities. Did you |
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| 50:48 | that each and every one of you a body odor as unique as a |
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| 50:53 | ? And that apparently we choose our by their smell. We can smell |
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| 50:59 | the other person has an immune system is compatible with our or complementary to |
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| 51:06 | . That's why we might fall in . At first sniff again, an |
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| 51:11 | made use of this unique fact, created Pheromone Link, a Smell Dating |
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| 51:21 | . You can walk in grab a shirt that was worn by someone and |
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| 51:26 | sniff out who you like here. see people in action. This girl |
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| 51:32 | here apparently did not find her true . She did not like this |
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| 51:39 | Now, imagine this. You fall love with someone through the internet. |
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| 51:44 | cannot diffuse smells over the internet, you're in love. You decide to |
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| 51:50 | and then you hate the other person's . No way that that will ever |
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| 51:56 | . So why don't we just diffuse over the internet? That is a |
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| 52:01 | that's already happening. It might already possible. In 2014, a Harvard |
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| 52:08 | invented the old phone and the first it transatlantic email. That smell of |
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| 52:15 | and Macaroons was sent in 2014. what if we would combine the latest |
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| 52:24 | with all this more meaningful historical and historical uses? Then we can really |
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| 52:33 | to use smell in a much more way. And even without that |
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| 52:40 | we can just start to smell, each other, smell your surroundings, |
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| 52:46 | his history books with smells, write the smells in a diary so that |
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| 52:54 | least people when you once get old know which smells triggered your memory. |
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| 53:01 | say an image can say more than words. Well, I say a |
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| 53:07 | can say more than 1000 images. you. I think there is something |
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| 53:16 | that I was talking about. Maybe a device that could be digital. |
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| 53:23 | And uh I think this is really if you, you change the concept |
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| 53:35 | actually uh finding a mate by not seeing or hearing or knowing anything |
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| 53:43 | that person. Uh And uh you , people send uh profiles bios around |
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| 53:54 | world and stuff like that, they a lot of money on these |
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| 53:57 | But this seems like a really useful . How could you maybe take, |
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| 54:06 | know, like you have a body odor is as unique as a |
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| 54:12 | right? But could you like, a million t-shirts and do some sort |
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| 54:22 | a chemical analysis on the odors or turps in that t-shirt of a million |
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| 54:32 | ? And see if there are many , let's say out of a |
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| 54:36 | there might be 20 subgroups where similar and the body odor of these |
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| 54:46 | And you could then, you I have another component of almond group |
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| 54:54 | roses or something like that, you . Uh and it would really change |
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| 55:01 | way I think people interact with each . So, OK. That ends |
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| 55:07 | lecture today. Thank you for being and I'll see everyone back on |
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