This TED Talks Daily podcast features chemosensory researcher Paule Joseph discussing the often-overlooked importance of smell and its connection to health. The interview begins with Joseph sharing personal anecdotes about smell's evocative power, then transitions to her research on how changes in smell can be early indicators of diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and dementia. Joseph advocates for incorporating smell tests into routine checkups, citing her mother-in-law's case where diminished smell was an early sign of frontal temporal lobe dementia. The interview concludes with a discussion of how to measure smell and the need for increased public awareness and policy changes to prioritize smell testing in healthcare. The University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test is mentioned as an example of a standardized smell test.
