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The Stinkhorn and the Perfumier

Nature writer Richard Mabey discusses connections between scent and memory and how we're informed of our love affairs and hey-days by the scents carried on the wind.

Nature writer Richard Mabey reflects on his lifelong relationship with science and the natural world.

He ponders why we are all so good at remembering scents, despite their having little relevance for our survival. He tries to unpick how, as Marcel Proust famously wrote, fragrance and flavour 'bear unflinchingly, in the tiny and almost impalpable drop of their essence, the vast structure of recollection'.

15 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Wed 23 Sep 2009 23:00
  • Wed 28 Apr 2010 23:00

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