Breathe deep and think: What do you smell right now? The sweetness of the spring air? The smoky smells of the highway?

Our noses give us key clues about the environment and provide a critical daily link to some of our most cherished memories.

But smell, and its control over culture and politics, is often undervalued and misunderstood.

Today, we take a nose dive into the olfactory, exploring how humanity has used smell to communicate and control.

Guests:

Ally Louks: Supervisor at the University of Cambridge and author of "Olfactory Ethics: The Politics of Smell in Modern and Contemporary Prose"
Alexandra Segal: Wesleyan University anthropology graduate and winner of the school's "GLASS Prize in Queer Studies" for her 2025 paper, "On the Nose: What to Learn from Funk and Fragheads"
Brittany Koziara: Owner of Forêline Parfumerie
Hsuan Hsu: Professor of English at UC Davis, and author of "The Smell of Risk" and "Olfactory Worldmaking"

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Smell defines our world in hidden and powerful ways