How many times to you check your armpits a day? It’s a common practice for most because in our society, no one wants to have wetness or odour. On this week’s show, we’re going to explore the nature of those two traits and how those deodorants and anti-perspirants make be changing the way we smell.  

Our first guest is Jessica Gaby. She is postdoctoral scientist at Penn State University, and she has been studying the smell that emits from under our arms. But her research isn’t on chemistry, it’s all about psychology. Our underarms can tell quite a bit about us and provide social cues to others in ways we may not expect, including potentially, finding romance. 

Our next guest explores the other issue we fear, wetness. He is Youwen Zhou and he has been studying a condition known as hyperhidrosis, which means too much sweating. We learn of its causes and how it can be treated using a rather unconventional method used mainly for combatting wrinkles, botox.  

In our SASS Class, we’re going to learn about the effect deodorants and anti-perspirants have on our odour. Our guest teacher is Julie Horvath and she is the Head of the Genomics & Microbiology Research Lab at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. While there is an effect on our skin, we find out that the changes to our skin microbes may lead us to smell different.    

Twitter: @JATetroEmail: [email protected]

Guests:

Jessica Gaby

Youwen ZhouWeb: http://www.skincarecentre.ca/about_us/doctors/youwen_zhou.htm  

Julie HorvathWeb: https://naturalsciences.org/staff/julie-horvath Twitter: @NRCjulie

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