Why your nose and sense of smell is secretly controlling your life | ReThinking with Adam Grant

Do you hate the taste of cilantro and chocolate? You might be a super taster! Rachel Herz is a neuroscientist at Brown University who specializes in taste and smell. In this episode, Adam, Rachel, and Adam’s wife Allison Sweet Grant investigate the sources of their different food preferences, uncover the overlooked power of smell, and analyze the effects of the gene that can turn some people into picky eaters. Follow Host: Adam Grant (Instagram: @adamgrant | LinkedIn: @adammgrant | Website: adamgrant.net/) Guest: Rachel Herz (Instagram | LinkedIn: @rachelherz | Website: rachelherz.com/) Links Books: Why You Eat What You Eat (2019), That’s Disgusting (2013), The Scent of Desire (2008) Subscribe to TED Instagram: @ted YouTube: @TED TikTok: @tedtoks LinkedIn: @ted-conferences Website: ted.com Podcasts: ted.com/podcasts The TED Audio Collective is a collection of podcasts for the curious. The TED Audio Collective videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://www.ted.com/about/our-organiz...). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com. 00:00 Intro 00:44 What is a super taster? 05:15 How does taste affect your life? 09:03 Taste vs. smell 14:15 How important is smell? 18:30 The emotional value of smell 22:58 Can you smell diseases? 26:33 Lightning round

Rachel HerzguestAdam Granthost

Jul 25, 202531mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: July 25, 2025
Duration: 31m
Channel: Re:Thinking with Adam Grant
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Do you hate the taste of cilantro and chocolate? You might be a super taster! Rachel Herz is a neuroscientist at Brown University who specializes in taste and smell. In this episode, Adam, Rachel, and Adam’s wife Allison Sweet Grant investigate the sources of their different food preferences, uncover the overlooked power of smell, and analyze the effects of the gene that can turn some people into picky eaters. Follow Host: Adam Grant (Instagram: @adamgrant | LinkedIn: @adammgrant | Website: adamgrant.net/) Guest: Rachel Herz (Instagram | LinkedIn: @rachelherz | Website: rachelherz.com/) Links Books: Why You Eat What You Eat (2019), That’s Disgusting (2013), The Scent of Desire (2008) Subscribe to TED Instagram: @ted YouTube: @TED TikTok: @tedtoks LinkedIn: @ted-conferences Website: ted.com Podcasts: ted.com/podcasts The TED Audio Collective is a collection of podcasts for the curious. The TED Audio Collective videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://www.ted.com/about/our-organiz...). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com. 00:00 Intro 00:44 What is a super taster? 05:15 How does taste affect your life? 09:03 Taste vs. smell 14:15 How important is smell? 18:30 The emotional value of smell 22:58 Can you smell diseases? 26:33 Lightning round

SPEAKERS

Rachel Herz
guest
Psychologist and researcher specializing in the science of smell (olfaction) and its effects on emotion, cognition, and behavior.
Adam Grant
host
Organizational psychologist and host of the ReThinking podcast.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Re:Thinking with Adam Grant, featuring Rachel Herz and Adam Grant, Why your nose and sense of smell is secretly controlling your life | ReThinking with Adam Grant explores smell and taste genetics shape health, emotion, relationships, and perception Super tasting is largely genetic, driven by taste-bud density and receptor variants, and often heightens bitterness and intensity (e.g., coffee, alcohol, leafy greens).

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