Radiolab - The Smell of Hell

What if the smell of death is actually the smell of life?

Duration: 46m
Broadcast on: 16 Oct 2026
Audio Format: other

Throughout human history, there’s been one element we’ve always associated with death. Just the smell of it is an alarm bell that says, “something here is dangerous.” But what if our noses have been wrong all along?

In this episode of our series Viscera: Gripping Tales of the Human Body, we take you to a live performance in Boston where we reveal how this much-maligned element might be better understood as the smell of life.

LATERAL CUTS:

Want to see a Viscera show? Join us for Radiolab Presents: Viscera, live in New York City on Thursday, November 5th. All about the sometimes freaky world of organ transplants, with special guest Mary Roach discussing her upcoming book, Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy. Get your tickets at wnyc.org/events.

EPISODE CREDITS:
Reported by - Avir Mitra and Matt Kielty
with help from - Mona Madgavkar
Produced by - Mona Madgavkar and Matt Kielty
with mixing help from - Jeremy Bloom
Fact-checking by - Rachel Gross
and Edited by - Pat Walters
Liveshow production support - Natalia Ramirez, Sarah Sandbach, Maia Appleby Melamed, and Jeremy Bloom.

EPISODE CITATIONS:

Videos -

Watch the video of Radiolab Presents: Viscera live at WBUR CitySpace (https://zpr.io/PZF3BqnbKKJD)

Articles -

A possible chemical explanation for the events associated with the death of Gloria Ramirez at Riverside General Hospital (https://zpr.io/sbjXYcPenGSH), the paper explaining Livermore Lab’s hypothesis.

Books -

The Great Secret (https://zpr.io/PGCmihSFBHj4), by Jennet Conant about the birth of chemotherapy in the laboratory of war.

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Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

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What if the smell of death is actually the smell of life?