About this episode
Believe it or not, scientists still don't know how the sense of smell works. But they're looking at how powerful it is - dogs can actually sniff out cancer and many other diseases - and they're trying to figure out how to reverse engineer it. In fact, one MIT scientist may have built a robot nose ... without completely understanding how his invention works. For further reading, sign up for our newsletter here: http://vox.com/unexplainable-newsletter Show transcript and articles at: http://vox.com/unexplainable Article on quantum nose theory: https://bit.ly/3clurfs Email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Listen to this episode in English to learn English
Podcast episodes are one of the highest-density ways to absorb English at native pace. No one nose from Unexplainable gives you natural dialogue, unscripted speech, and vocabulary that actually appears in real conversations.
In the Hinto app, every word in the transcript is tappable. Tap an unknown word, see the translation in your language instantly, and keep listening without breaking flow.
Episodes to Learn English
- What's the oldest story ever told? Sep 14, 2026
- Stopping the science that could stop the world Sep 2, 2026
- A breakthrough in synthetic life Aug 31, 2026
- Life from scratch Aug 26, 2026
- The idea of a song Aug 24, 2026
- Why can’t I remember being a baby? Aug 19, 2026
- Can these corals take the heat? Aug 17, 2026
- Why Hank Green takes pseudoscience seriously Aug 10, 2026
- A trip to the twilight reefs Aug 5, 2026
- The hidden world that birds see Aug 3, 2026
- The Godzilla El Niño Jul 29, 2026
- An argument for the sun Jul 27, 2026
- What the Odyssey is hiding Jul 22, 2026
- Dinosaur mysteries with Riley Black Jul 20, 2026
- When doctors don't know what's wrong Jul 15, 2026
- Are you a lyric person or a music person? Jul 13, 2026
- Big news! Jul 9, 2026
- Are we all living in an enormous black hole? Jul 6, 2026
- Risky business Jun 29, 2026
- A period piece Jun 24, 2026
- Bird people and deep space shrapnel Jun 22, 2026
- Should we really kill all the lanternflies? Jun 17, 2026
- Sean tries raw milk Jun 15, 2026
- A new species in New York Jun 10, 2026
- The disaster problem Jun 8, 2026
- The lost Lyme vaccine Jun 3, 2026
- The cells we share Jun 1, 2026
- The man who bet against humanity — and lost May 20, 2026
- The aftermath May 18, 2026
- A better Black Death story May 13, 2026