Science Vs How to Smell like a Dog, with Ed Yong
128 snips
Sep 25, 2025 
Joining the discussion is Ed Yong, a Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer and the mind behind 'An Immense World,' which delves into animal senses. Ed shares fascinating insights into how animals perceive their environments, from dogs’ incredible sniffing abilities to the stunning world of ultraviolet vision. He explains how whales communicate using infrasound and how certain creatures like the emerald jewel wasp interact with their surroundings. They also touch on the challenges facing scientific research and the impact of pollution on sensory biology.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Sea Smell Reveals Hidden Ocean Landscapes
- Dimethyl sulfide (DMS) smells like seaweed and signals rich feeding zones to seabirds.
- For albatrosses, the ocean becomes textured by scent plumes revealing food concentrated beneath the surface.
Eyes Evolve Gradually, Step By Step
- Eyes evolve in incremental steps from single light-sensitive cells to lenses and complex retinas.
- We find intermediate eye forms across animals, showing plausible evolutionary paths to complex vision.
Birds See A Much Richer Rainbow
- Many birds see ultraviolet, revealing floral signals and feather patterns invisible to humans.
- Birds' four cone types let them discriminate far more colours than humans do.
