• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » The Smell Hormone

The Smell Hormone

May 2, 2011
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/110502_sciup_smell.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):

A mouth-watering hormone…I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Our ability to smell is heightened when we’re hungry. This makes evolutionary sense, because a good sense of smell helped our ancestors sniff out calories and avoid famine. Now researchers think a hormone called ghrelin, which is already known to increase appetite, makes us use our noses more. University of Cincinatti endocrinologist Jenny Tong and her colleagues gave the hormone to rats, causing them to sniff more frequently than usual. They then gave ghrelin to people and had them smell five different odors.

JENNY TONG (University of Cincinnati):

And when they received ghrelin, they sniffed harder as compared to the time when they received just saline, salt solution.

HIRSHON:

In the future, she says ghrelin could help older people retain their sense of smell. And blocking the hormone could combat obesity, by making high calorie foods less appealing. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Category: Daily Show, Station DownloadTag: Animal Behavior, Chemistry, Genetics & Evolution, Medicine & Health, Social & Behavioral Sciences
Previous Post:Podcast for 29 April 2011 – Whale Songs & Zebra Stripes
Next Post:Vehicle Nanoparticles

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Cat Video
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • NASA
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Image of computer screen depicting an orange cat with a variety of alphanumeric scientific data superimposed on the the screen.
Spotted skunk performing handstand to threaten predators

Copyright © 2025 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos