Huberman LabEssentials: How Smells Influence Our Hormones, Health & Behavior | Dr. Noam Sobel
Episode Details
EPISODE INFO
- Released
- October 29, 2026
- Duration
- 34m
- Channel
- Huberman Lab
- Watch on YouTube
- ▶ Open ↗
EPISODE DESCRIPTION
In this Huberman Lab Essentials episode, my guest is Dr. Noam Sobel, PhD, a Professor of Neurobiology at the Weizmann Institute of Science and an expert on the human sense of smell. We discuss how the brain processes odors and how smell shapes our lives more than we realize, influencing everything from who we become friends with to how we experience emotions, hormones and aggression. Dr. Sobel also shares his lab’s groundbreaking work on digitizing smell and future technologies that could enable noninvasive disease detection through body odors. Show notes: https://www.hubermanlab.com/episode/essentials-how-smells-influence-our-hormones-health-and-behavior-noam-sobel Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman Follow Huberman Lab Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hubermanlab Threads: https://www.threads.net/@hubermanlab X: https://x.com/hubermanlab Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hubermanlab TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hubermanlab LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-huberman Website: https://www.hubermanlab.com Newsletter: https://www.hubermanlab.com/newsletter Timestamps 00:00:00 Noam Sobel 00:00:20 Biology of Smell (Olfaction) 00:04:32 Human Smell, Social Interaction, Handshaking 00:08:31 Sponsor: LMNT 00:10:03 Friendship, Body Odor 00:14:04 Human Chemosignals, Smell of Fear & Contagion 00:15:48 Aggression, Chemosignals, Men vs Women, Babies 00:20:38 Sponsor: AG1 00:21:51 Tears, “Chemical Blanket”, Testosterone 00:25:37 Digitizing Smells 00:28:25 Sponsor: Eight Sleep 00:29:48 Creating Digital Odors; Future Medical Diagnostics 00:33:43 Acknowledgments Disclaimer & Disclosures: https://www.hubermanlab.com/disclaimer
SPEAKERS
Andrew Huberman
hostProfessor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine and host of the Huberman Lab podcast.
Dr. Noam Sobel
guestNeuroscientist and olfaction researcher known for work on human smell/chemosignaling and related behavior and physiology.
EPISODE SUMMARY
In this episode of Huberman Lab, featuring Andrew Huberman and Dr. Noam Sobel, Essentials: How Smells Influence Our Hormones, Health & Behavior | Dr. Noam Sobel explores how human smell shapes social behavior, hormones, and digital futures Dr. Noam Sobel explains the biological pathway of olfaction from receptor interactions in the olfactory epithelium through the olfactory bulb and widespread brain projections, emphasizing both structure and remaining uncertainty in higher-level coding.
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