It’s commonly thought that when compared to other members of the animal kingdom we humans have a particularly poor sense of smell. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Modern research has proven that human beings are surprisingly sophisticated sniffers, at least on par with the vast majority of other animals.

In this episode, we catch up with Prof Jonas Olofsson, a psychologist based at Stockholm University, to talk about his latest book The Forgotten Sense – The New Science of Smell.

He explains what happens when odour molecules enter our nasal passages and are processed by our brains, tells us how our sense of smell is intimately linked to our memories and emotions and answers the question that has been debated across countless dinner tables all over the world: can some people really identify wines just by smelling them?

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JAMA: 2010-09-15, Vol. 304, No. 11, This Week's Audio Commentary