Essentials: How Smells Influence Our Hormones, Health & Behavior | Dr. Noam Sobel
Andrew Huberman talks with smell researcher Noam Sobel about how odors quietly shape human behavior, hormones and friendships. Topics include handshakes, baby head scent, emotional tears, and early efforts to send smells digitally.
The gist
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Sobel says people secretly sniff their hands after handshakes, and his lab's hidden-camera study measured a sharp rise in hand-to-nose sniffing.
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Sobel's lab found click friends smell more alike, and an electronic nose predicted which strangers would like each other after a silent mirror game.
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Sobel says hexadecanal, abundant in baby heads, lowered aggression in men but raised it in women, which he sees as protecting offspring.
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Sobel reports that men sniffing odorless emotional tears from women saw free testosterone drop about 14% within roughly 20 to 30 minutes.
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Sobel's lab can predict how similar odor mixtures smell and sent violets over the internet, with 15 of 16 people recognizing it.
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