Love it or hate it, sweat is the reason why you don’t die of heatstroke in the summer—though you might want to die of embarrassment if you work up too much of it. But perspiration also contains a trove of secrets about our body’s inner workings, from sexy pheromones and disease markers to what we had for lunch. In her new book, The Joy of Sweat: The Strange Science of Perspiration, science journalist Sarah Everts explores what it reveals about our biology and behavior, debunking overheated myths—and maybe even some stigma—along the way.

Go beyond the episode:

• Sarah Everts’s The Joy of Sweat
• Dip into the world of custom perfume, which can smell quite different depending on who wears it
• Don’t cancel your gym membership, but do give your heart a workout in the sauna
• Yes, you really do smell your hand after shaking someone else’s: here is the experiment with the videos to prove it
• Try out the first “mail odor dating service”

Tune in every week to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek.

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