In this episode, my guest is Noam Sobel, PhD, professor of neurobiology in the Department of Brain Sciences at the Weizmann Institute of Science. Dr. Sobel explains his lab’s research on the biological mechanisms of smell (“olfaction”) and how sensing odorants and chemicals in our environment impacts human behavior, cognition, social connections and hormones. He explains how smell is a crucial component of “social sensing” and how we use olfaction when meeting new people to determine things about their physiology and psychology, and he explains how this impacts friendships and romantic partners. He explains how smell influences emotions, hormone levels, memories and the relationship between breathing and autonomic homeostasis. He describes how smell-based screening tests can aid disease diagnosis and explains his lab’s work on digitization of smell — which may soon allow online communication to include “sending of odors” via the internet. Dr. Sobel’s work illustrates how sensitive human olfaction is and how it drives much of our biology and behavior. Thank you to our sponsors AG1 (Athletic Greens): https://athleticgreens.com/huberman ROKA: https://roka.com/huberman Thesis: https://takethesis.com/huberman Helix Sleep: https://helixsleep.com/huberman InsideTracker: https://insidetracker.com/huberman Supplements from Momentous https://www.livemomentous.com/huberman Huberman Lab Social & Website Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hubermanlab Twitter: https://twitter.com/hubermanlab Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hubermanlab LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-huberman Website: https://hubermanlab.com Newsletter: https://hubermanlab.com/neural-network Dr. Noam Sobel Lab website: https://www.weizmann.ac.il/brain-sciences/worg Lab Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/odorspaceWORG Publications: https://www.weizmann.ac.il/brain-sciences/worg/publications Twitter: https://twitter.com/LabWorg Articles The Age of Olfactory Bulb Neurons in Humans: https://bit.ly/41NMjb6 The Privileged Brain Representation of First Olfactory Associations: https://bit.ly/3LGEePP Mechanisms of scent-tracking in humans: https://go.nature.com/41Sm03w Measuring and Characterizing the Human Nasal Cycle: https://bit.ly/44dqGmi Human non-olfactory cognition phase-locked with inhalation: https://go.nature.com/44iPIQQ A social chemosignaling function for human handshaking: https://bit.ly/3Lo5kK6 There is chemistry in social chemistry: https://bit.ly/41TVIhq MHC-dependent mate preferences in humans: https://bit.ly/41SbgCc An Exteroceptive Block to Pregnancy in the Mouse: https://go.nature.com/3VnxRnN Fear-Related Chemosignals Modulate Recognition of Fear in Ambiguous Facial Expressions: https://bit.ly/3NqAPpD Sniffing the human body volatile hexadecanal blocks aggression in men but triggers aggression in women: https://bit.ly/3oQ6NBv Menstrual Synchrony and Suppression: https://go.nature.com/3LRF9xf Regulation of ovulation by human pheromones: https://go.nature.com/44jODbt Human Tears Contain a Chemosignal: https://bit.ly/41Qmkjr Why Only Humans Shed Emotional Tears: https://bit.ly/41W71pl Revisiting the revisit: added evidence for a social chemosignal in human emotional tears: https://bit.ly/44dygNJ Increase of tear volume in dogs after reunion with owners is mediated by oxytocin: https://bit.ly/41W73gX An olfactory self-test effectively screens for COVID-19: https://go.nature.com/3Vj6z1S Other Resources Joachim Löw video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOstSv7SrRU Osmo: https://osmo.ai Odor Space: https://odorspace.weizmann.ac.il Timestamps 00:00:00 Dr. Noam Sobel 00:03:46 Sponsors: ROKA, Thesis, Helix Sleep 00:06:46 Olfaction Circuits (Smell) 00:14:49 Loss & Regeneration of Smell, Illness 00:21:39 Brain Processing of Smell 00:24:40 Smell & Memories 00:27:52 Sponsor: AG1 (Athletic Greens) 00:29:07 Humans & Odor Tracking 00:39:25 The Alternating Nasal Cycle & Autonomic Nervous System 00:48:18 Cognitive Processing & Breathing 00:54:47 Neurodegenerative Diseases & Olfaction 01:00:12 Congenital Anosmia 01:05:01 Sponsor: InsideTracker 01:06:19 Handshaking, Sharing Chemicals & Social Sensing 01:15:07 Smelling Ourselves & Smelling Others 01:22:02 Odors & Romantic Attraction 01:24:58 Vomeronasal Organ, “Bruce Effect” & Miscarriage 01:40:20 Social Chemo-Signals, Fear 01:50:26 Chemo-Signaling, Aggression & Offspring 02:03:57 Menstrual Cycle Synchronization 02:12:11 Sweat, Tears, Emotions & Testosterone 02:27:46 Science Politics 02:37:54 Food Odors & Nutritional Value 02:45:34 Human Perception & Odorant Similarity 02:52:12 Digitizing Smell, COVID-19 & Smell 03:05:50 Medical Diagnostic Future & Olfaction Digitization 03:10:55 Zero-Cost Support, YouTube Feedback, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, Momentous, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac - https://www.blabacphoto.com Disclaimer: https://hubermanlab.com/disclaimer