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Human Senses TV Programmes

Programme 1 - Smell

In the first programme of the series Nigel Marven goes in search of the most disgusting and the most attractive smells.

Our sense of smell has evolved to warn us of dangers such as smoke and poisonous gases

Nigel visits Albuquerque to test out what is regarded as one of nature's worst smells – skunk odour. He volunteers to get 'skunked' and hidden cameras observe the effect this skunk smell has on people in a crowded shopping mall. Not everyone is disgusted by the skunk odour - some people seem unaffected.

To discover the biological reasons why we find some smells so unpleasant, Nigel travels to the African savannah, where a carcass has been rotting in the warm sun for two weeks. Our sense of smell has evolved to warn us off eating bacteria-infested meat like this, which would almost certainly kill us. Scavengers like hyenas, on the other hand, don't mind the smell and the bacteria-infested meat doesn't do them any harm either.

At the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia scientists have been developing the world's first universally repellent smell, so utterly disgusting it could be used for crowd control.

In the course of their research at Monell, scientists tested naturally occurring smells that people found offensive. They discovered big differences in how people react to these smells. Our reactions are partly innate, but heavily shaped by our own personal experiences. Nigel discovers that the way we react to a smell reflects our past experiences of that smell – good or bad.

To create the worst smell in the world, the team at Monell had to find a concoction that would trigger everyone's worst smell memories. For the grand finale, Nigel volunteers to try out the β€œstench soup” developed by the team. He takes a tiny sniff of the weapons grade stink and is convulsed with disgust.