Original subtitles

CHARLIE: Oh man. Hey guys.

Quick breakdown of what's going on.

We're in Philly right now.

With a super scientist who's making us taste and smell

all of these weird things to get us a sense of our senses.

KIRBY: That was gross.

CHARLIE: Oh man kind of gross, but what's happening here is definitely Weird but True.

(theme music plays).

Dude, I don't smell anything!

KIRBY: Charles!

CHARLIE: Alright. Hey guys!

Charlie here, you know my sister Kirby!

KIRBY: Hey guys!

CHARLIE: Oh my gosh, we're so glad that you're here.

I think we just gotta get right into it.

KIRBY: So like two minutes ago...

CHARLIE: Two minutes!

KIRBY: We were in the kitchen enjoying our favorite snack.

CHARLIE: Jalapeno garlic knots.

There we were, noshing on some wicked knots.

When all of the sudden...our older sister Casey showed up.

CASEY: Hey guys. What are you guys eating?

CHARLIE: Garlic knots.

CASEY: You guys smell awful.

CHARLIE: What are you talking about?

KIRBY: We smell great!

CHARLIE: Want a knot? CASEY: Yeah, no thanks.

KIRBY: You don't like jalapeno garlic knots?

CASEY: Ew no gross!

CHARLIE: How is that even possible?

KIRBY: Bizarre.

CHARLIE: We don't understand!

KIRBY: How can Casey not like something so heavenly?

But we're gonna get to the bottom of it.

CHARLIE: So today we're unraveling the world of...

Smell and taste!

Senses! The best part of life!

KIRBY: You gotta love 'em.

CHARLIE: Using our senses we can...

See wonderful birthday decorations!

KIRBY: Happy birthday to you!

CHARLIE: Hear the jolly voices of our friends singing happy birthday.

Smell a surprise birthday pie!

Feel a birthday present!

And taste a delicious birthday cake!

KIRBY: So yesterday was Charlie's birthday, if you didn't notice.

CHARLIE: Happy birthday!

KIRBY: Ok, ok. But let's focus.

Senses.

What is a sense?

CHARLIE: Well we've got five basic senses.

First we've got touch, sight, and hearing.

They're all super similar because they track changes in our environment.

Like changes in temperature.

Changes in the light.

Or changes in sound.

Taste and smell are a little different.

Here's what I mean.

First. Taste.

So, our tongue is covered in a bunch of different taste buds.

And if we just take a little bit of a closer look.

We can see each taste bud is made up of a bunch of different taste cells,

and each of these cells recognizes one of the five major tastes we can detect:

you've got your sweet cells, your salty cells, sour cells,

bitter cells, and umami cells.

Cool science word, Umami.

Umami's the fifth basic taste.

It's a more savory and meaty.

Cool, cool. So each taste bud can recognize each flavor.

How nuts is that?

KIRBY: Super nuts!

CHARLIE: So that's how taste works.

Molecules from our food and drink bind to taste buds, which trigger certain cells,

that fire taste-specific signals to our brain.

So we can detect delicious tastes like jalapeno garlic knots.

Unless you're Casey of course.

KIRBY: Time for smell.

Smell is kind of like tasting with our nose.

Instead of deliberately shoving material into our nose,

like we do with our mouth, super light molecules from our food float through the air

into our nose.

And, inside our nose, there are a bunch of teeny tiny proteins.

If we take a little closer look at those proteins...

We see that they have receptor areas too!

When those super light molecules bind to the proteins,

a signal is sent to the brain and we sense a smell.

And the really incredible thing is that these smell proteins are very specific.

So when we smell, like birthday cake.

Molecules of whatever we're smelling actually go into our noses.

Crazy neat!

But also kind of weird because it's the same for bad smells.

Molecules of bad smelling things, also go into our noses.

CHARLIE: But maybe that's why Casey doesn't like jalapeno garlic knots.

Maybe at the time she was smelling something disgusting.

KIRBY: Yeah, but I wish there was a way we could figure this all out scientifically.

(door bell).

CHARLIE: What was that? BOB: Package!

CHARLIE: Whoa! BOB: Sign here.

CHARLIE: What the heck is this?

KIRBY: Check it out there's two tubes!

CHARLIE: And a letter! Hmm.

Dear Charlie and Kirby.

Happy belated birthday Charlie!

Oh, that's so nice.

KIRBY: Keep reading!

CHARLIE: This is Dr. Reed from the Monell Chemical Senses Center!

Smell and taste are our specialties!

Enclosed are two saliva vials.

If you'd like, fill them with your saliva.

KIRBY: Wait our spit?

CHARLIE: And mail them to our lab and come by for a visit!

Signed, your friend, Dr. Reed.

This is perfect!

They'll know why Casey doesn't like jalapeno garlic knots.

KIRBY: I don't know Charles.

CHARLIE: Kirby it's fine just start spitting.

KIRBY: Mmkay.

(spitting).

CHARLIE: Mine's done! KIRBY: Yup me too.

CHARLIE: Alright, throw it in the box.

Annnnndd...

Monell Chemical Senses Center.

BOB: You got it.

CHARLIE: Alright guys, I guess we're gonna head over to Monell!

Cool, cool!

Let's ride.

Heading over to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love.

Famous for it's tasty soft pretzels and cheesesteaks.

The Monell Chemical Senses Center, the place in the United States

to study taste and smell.

It's Dr. Reed.

Hey Dr. Reed!

DR. REED: Hi guys!

CHARLIE: Guys, Dr. Reed, Dr. Reed, guys.

Meet Doctor Danielle Reed...she's the associate director performing and

overseeing all kinds of research on taste and smell here at the Monell Center.

Her favorite Weird but True fact is, there's a wildflower

that smells just like chocolate!

Commonly referred to as the Chocolate Daisy.

So Dr. Reed we sent you a bunch of our saliva earlier, have you been checking it out?

DR. REED: Yep, we've been looking at the DNA.

CHARLIE: Are we normal tasters?

DR. REED: You'll have to come and find out.

CHARLIE: Ohhhh man! KIRBY: Alrighty.

CHARLIE: Let's go! Let's try it out.

DR. REED: Okay.

CHARLIE: Dr. Reed has set up three different experiments for us today.

These will help us learn the Weird but True ways our senses of smell and taste

actually work together.

DR. REED: First test we're gonna learn the difference between your sense of taste

and your sense of smell.

So we're gonna start with the dreaded nose clips.

CHARLIE: So, taste and smell are kind of intertwined, but I don't really understand it.

DR. REED: There's two things going on.

One is on the tongue, which is our sense of taste,

and then there's actually our sense of smell.

There's a back door up to the nose.

That's how you appreciate flavor when you put food in your mouth.

CHARLIE: Oh, okay.

DR. REED: So are you ready?

CHARLIE: Yeah I'm ready to go. DR. REED: Okay.

CHARLIE: Dr. Reed will show us how we need both taste and smell

to get the full flavor of food.

And to demonstrate this we'll see if we can figure out the flavor of our jellybeans.

DR. REED: You're just gonna put it in your mouth...

CHARLIE: Yeah?

DR. REED: And chew it up.

And as you're chewing try to guess the flavor.

CHARLIE: That's the plainest tasting jelly bean I've ever had in my entire life.

KIRBY: Yeah.

DR. REED: Now, take your nose clips off.

BOTH: Whoa!

CHARLIE: AHHHHH!

KIRBY: It's coffee. I got coffee.

CHARLIE: That gross.

KIRBY: What'd you get?

CHARLIE: I got licorice. I really don't like licorice.

DR. REED: You knew it was sweet, but you didn't know what the flavor was until you

took the nose clips off.

CHARLIE: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

DR. REED: And that allowed that sense of smell to come into play.

The next test we're going to show you a little bit about your sense of taste.

So some people are born able to taste bitter compounds and some people can't.

And we took your DNA in advance so I actually know whether you guys can

taste this compound or not.

So this is just a clear, plain liquid.

CHARLIE: Dr. Reed tells us some people think this liquid is gross,

but to others it tastes just like water and I'm really hoping

I won't be able to taste this stuff.

Cheers man. KIRBY: Cheers.

CHARLIE: Let's roll...

Ahhh!

KIRBY: What was that?

That was icky! UGH!

CHARLIE: How do I make it stop?

That's the grossest thing ever!

KIRBY: That's pretty gross.

DR. REED: So that's a chemical related to some of the chemicals that are in broccoli

CHARLIE: If you tested our saliva, you knew we were gonna taste that, right?

DR. REED: I did know.

CHARLIE: Dr. Reed, evil taste scientist.

KIRBY: Let's break down the difference between taste and flavor a bit more.

If Charlie were to describe the taste of a cake he'd say something like...

CHARLIE: It's pretty sweet.

KIRBY: If Charlie were to describe the flavor of cake

he'd say something like this...

CHARLIE: It's got a warm, lemony smell, but kind of a touch of nutmeg.

Cool, cool I think we got it.

DR. REED: So now we're gonna move onto something called miracle berry.

CHARLIE: Next up, Dr. Reed will show us how we can trick our taste buds.

DR. REED: Though these berries are not sweet themselves, they have the capacity to change

things into sweet in the presence of sour.

So first thing we're gonna do is I'm gonna have you taste a lemon.

And remember what that sour lemon taste is like.

CHARLIE: Not too hot.

DR. REED: Now we're gonna take a miracle berry, and we're gonna run the pulp

all around our tongue.

CHARLIE: Oh it's bitter.

KIRBY: That's not sweet.

DR. REED: We're going to take our lemon again.

KIRBY: Mmmmmmmh. DR. REED: You get it?

CHARLIE: That's not bad actually.

KIRBY: Tastes like candy.

DR. REED: It tastes like candy? KIRBY: Yeah.

DR. REED: You kind of get that sweet lemonade feel.

CHARLIE: That tastes kind of like a lemon pound cake.

Dr. Reed wasn't lying.

This berry makes lemons taste like lemonade, cheese taste like frosting,

and vinegar taste like fruit juice.

But miracle berries aren't the only thing that can do this.

Sprinkle a little salt on grapefruit and it tastes sweeter.

Eating an artichoke makes water taste sweeter too.

But the mother of all flavor hacks.

Toothpaste and OJ.

Toothpaste contains the chemical sodium lauryl sulfate, aka SLS.

SLS makes toothpaste super foamy.

In our mouths we naturally have a certain amount of phospholipids,

which block our bitter receptors.

SLS gets rid of those phospholipids.

This makes our taste buds much more sensitive than usual to bitter molecules in things

like orange juice.

Making it taste all gross!

So now you know.

It's just a little sodium lauryl sulfate.

DR. REED: If you guys think this is neat, you should meet with a flavor chemist.

They study all of the different molecules that go into different kinds of foods.

CHARLIE: A flavor chemist. That's an actual job?

DR. REED: It's an actual job.

CHARLIE: All right, guys. We gotta head back to HQ

'cause we got a new topic on our hands, flavor chemists.

So we'll be back in a bit.

Thanks for the jelly beans and thanks for an excuse not to eat broccoli anymore.

See you!

DR. REED: That's not what I said.

KIRBY: Weird but True, scents smell better through your right nostril than they do

through your left!

KIRBY: Charles you gotta check this out.

CHARLIE: Hey guys! Welcome back.

KIRBY: Oh hey.

CHARLIE: We're just enjoying a nice little snack.

After our long trip home from Philadelphia.

KIRBY: This is amazing!

CHARLIE: Our friend Dr. Reed, who works there,

was just telling us about flavor chemists.

KIRBY: Flavorists.

CHARLIE: Kirby's been doing some research.

And apparently this job is pretty awesome.

KIRBY: Yeah check it out, it's all here.

CHARLIE: Hmm ok so apparently...

Dating back to 1927 researchers thought that humans could only detect

10,000 different smells, but by 2016 they determined we could

detect over 1 trillion different smells!

1 trillion!

That a lot of smells.

And detecting all of those different smells is what helps flavor chemists,

aka flavorists, design the flavors of our food.

These super star chemists make the mind boggling flavor creations we all love.

KIRBY: Mmmm.

CHARLIE: And it seems like it'd be pretty easy, right?

Not so much.

In the United States, an aspiring flavor chemist starts out

as an apprentice at a flavor house.

For seven years before they finally have the opportunity to become a

certified voting member of the Society of Flavor Chemists.

And that's when you know you're legit.

When you're in the society.

KIRBY: And the work they're doing's pretty tricky 'cause flavors are difficult to make.

CHARLIE: So how do they do it?

KIRBY: They've got a super power.

CHARLIE: A very real, actual, scientific superpower.

You know those tongue taste charts that look like this?

Well Weird but True , the taste chart is a myth!

You don't taste salty things on the bottom on your tongue and sour things on the side.

KIRBY: You taste everything everywhere.

CHARLIE: Because every taste bud has cells that recognise every basic taste.

KIRBY: And most flavorists are super tasters.

CHARLIE: It's a real thing.

Alright so the amount of tastebuds in our mouths varies from person to person,

but supertasters have more taste buds than average.

KIRBY: Like a lot more.

CHARLIE: So everything they taste is extreme.

For example, if a super taster and a normal taster both drank the same sour lemonade,

to the normal taster, it'd be just like a little sour.

KIRBY: That's just like a little sour.

CHARLIE: But to the super taster it'd be incredibly sour.

WHOOOOOOOO!!!

Everything tastes extreme to a super taster!

Flavors aren't just flavors, they're flavor explosions!

The cool thing is, this is a very normal thing,

and super tasters walk among us every day.

Whoa!

KIRBY: Are you a picky eater?

Do you turn up your nose at the mere sight of broccoli?

Do certain cheeses make you queasy?

If yes, then you, my friend, may be a supertaster!!

CHARLIE: Yeah maybe you don't like those things because you

actually have an awesome superpower.

KIRBY: And lucky for you, there's a way to find out if you do!

A supertaster test!

CHARLIE: A test that you guys can do at home.

Let's give it a shot. Here's what you need.

Blue food dye!

Cotton swab!

Tweezers!

Hole punch reinforcement!

A magnifying glass!

KIRBY: First, using the cotton swab, coat the front third of your tongue

with blue food coloring.

So the blue dye dyes the tongue but not these dots called the papillae.

And each papillae has three to five taste buds in them.

Next place a hole punch reinforcement on your tongue.

Pro tip: Stick two together so you don't have to taste that sticky glue.

Then, ask a buddy to check your tongue out and count

the papillae inside the hole punch reinforcement.

So if you have less than 15 papillae, you're a non-taster.

If you have between 15 and 35, you're a normal taster.

And if you have more than 35, you're a supertaster!

Let's see what we got!

CHARLIE: Alright guys Kirby and I counted the number of

papillae and now we have the results!

Kirby, the number of papillae on your tongue was...

20!

KIRBY: Nice!

CHARLIE: You are a...normal taster!

Aww.

KIRBY: That's ok, that's ok, that's fine.

Charles, your papillae count was...

CHARLIE: Come on, come on, come on !

KIRBY: 17!

CHARLIE: Nooo!! Ugh! I wanted to be a supertaster!

KIRBY: That's ok.

CHARLIE: Alright, back to HQ.

Ah that's alright Kirb. There are other super things about us.

KIRBY: Very true.

(doorbell).

CHARLIE: Another birthday package?

BOB: Special delivery. CHARLIE: Whoa!

This one's from FONA International.

Dear Charlie and Kirby.

We heard that you were unraveling the world of taste and smell today.

KIRBY: How does everyone know this?

CHARLIE: We were wondering if you'd like to visit our flavor house,

meet with our taste experts, and make some flavors yourself.

Hope to see you soon!

KIRBY: Sounds pretty hard to pass up.

CHARLIE: We're definitely going right Kirb?

KIRBY: Oh we're going.

CHARLIE: Awesome we'll see you guys there.

KIRBY: Weird but True, girls have more taste buds than boys,

because girls have more papillae!

CHARLIE: Oh hey guys, welcome back!

Today we're talking about sense of smell and taste.

And earlier we got a letter from this place, FONA International.

It's a flavor house just around the corner from us in Chicago.

KIRBY: Let's go check it out.

CHARLIE: Alright, let's head that way.

The experts here work with over 4800 raw materials to create delicious flavor

combinations that can be found in all sorts of different foods and drinks.

It's the perfect place for us to put our smell and taste skills to the test.

LAUREN: Oh hey, Charlie, Kirby.

KIRBY: Hello. CHARLIE: Hi.

LAUREN: Hey.

CHARLIE: How's it going? LAUREN: Good how are you guys?

CHARLIE: Good, did you send us that package?

LAUREN: I did. You guys got it?

CHARLIE: Yeah, for sure!

LAUREN: Awesome!

CHARLIE: This is Lauren Morris.

She's a flavor chemist, which means she creates flavors

that end up in some of our favorite foods.

Like chewing gum and potato chips.

Her favorite Weird but True fact is, you're more sensitive to smells when you're hungry!

Before we get started, she has us put on some safety gear.

LAUREN: Ready to be a flavorist for a day?

KIRBY: Oh yeah. CHARLIE: Let's do it.

LAUREN: Awesome.

CHARLIE: Where are we starting?

LAUREN: We're going to make a coconut flavor!

CHARLIE: Coconut!

LAUREN: So what we're gonna do here is we're gonna add two raw materials.

CHARLIE: How many drops?

How many are we adding here?

LAUREN: So you're gonna add .1 gram.

CHARLIE: Lauren shows us how mixing chemical materials with long fancy names,

like acetylacetone and gamma nonalactone, can make flavors

like the coconut flavor drink we're making.

KIRBY: We're at uh .025.

LAUREN: Aaaand you're good.

Just a little bit goes a long way for these flavors.

Beautiful.

CHARLIE: Can we make it fancy?

Can we make it any colors? Or?

LAUREN: Absolutely.

It's a great way to look at the flavor and see the different colors and how it

mixes and if it's in solution.

KIRBY: That's it? LAUREN: That's it.

And we'll just give it a gentle spin.

KIRBY: That's awesome.

There's a little tornado inside!

LAUREN: Alright the flavor is mixed, it looks great.

CHARLIE: What happened to our pink color?

LAUREN: Well it gets dissolved.

Let's see how it tastes and if you can pick out the nuances of coconut.

KIRBY: Alrighty team let's give it a go.

CHARLIE: Cheers. LAUREN: Cheers.

CHARLIE: Cheers.

LAUREN: Nice job!

KIRBY: It is coconutty. CHARLIE: Yeah!

KIRBY: It's totally coconutty! LAUREN: Creamy, coconut.

CHARLIE: So what do these flavors taste like in the actual food?

LAUREN: Paul, our application scientist, is in the lab waiting for you guys and he

can show you how to add the flavors to the food products and then you guys can taste

them and see how different they are.

CHARLIE: And we can get some things?

LAUREN: Absolutely.

CHARLIE: Alright we're heading that way.

LAUREN: You guys did awesome.

KIRBY: Thank you. LAUREN: Thanks so much.

CHARLIE: Alright thanks so much Lauren! See ya!

We're off to meet Paul Hoffman.

As an application scientist he tracks ratios of raw materials

that go into different flavors.

He also experiments with different techniques and tools like sprayers and mixers to

add flavors that make our foods taste great.

His favorite Weird but True fact is, the fattier the food,

the longer it holds the flavor in your mouth!

Hey are you Paul? PAUL: I am.

CHARLIE: Lauren sent us over.

She said you're a food application scientist, is that right?

PAUL: I am.

So you guys made coconut flavor, but I made a flavor

that I want you guys to try out.

So we've got our chips.

KIRBY: Going in the chip machine.

PAUL: And here's our flavor.

CHARLIE: So it's kind of like you're misting a flavor onto the potato chips.

PAUL: Yup exactly.

Alright, ready to go.

KIRBY: Ok mystery flavor. Let's do it.

PAUL: Any ideas?

KIRBY: I'm smelling caramel or something.

PAUL: Alright.

CHARLIE: I smell like brownies and nail polish.

It's like a weird combo.

Chip for you.

KIRBY: Thank you, Paul. PAUL: Thank you.

CHARLIE: Chip. KIRBY: Thank you.

CHARLIE: Cheers the chip. PAUL: Cheers.

KIRBY: I think I have an idea. PAUL: Alright.

KIRBY: It smells caramelly. PAUL: OK.

KIRBY: But I think it's s'more flavored.

PAUL: You guys got it!

KIRBY: No I... CHARLIE: I had no idea.

PAUL: Yeah. KIRBY: Its 100% S'more.

CHARLIE: I've very impressed with Kirby right now.

That was so cool.

KIRBY: I think I win the flavor game today.

CHARLIE: I'll give it to you with that one.

It's like marshmallowy, got chocolate, a little, like a cinnamon graham cracker thing.

PAUL: Yep.

CHARLIE: Delicious. S'more flavored potato chip.

Awesome.

After proving that Paul can make potato chips taste like well...

just about anything he's got another special taste test in store for us.

PAUL: Charlie I heard it's your birthday this week.

CHARLIE: Hey it totally is!

PAUL: Alright let's flavor some frosting for your cake!

KIRBY: Nice. CHARLIE: Perfect let's do it!

PAUL: So we've got our frosting, my secret flavor.

CHARLIE: Oooo it's orange.

KIRBY: Orange. Hints or a trick?

CHARLIE: I'm guessing orange soda what do you think?

KIRBY: It's kind of brown looking. Rootbeer?

CHARLIE: Rootbeer?

PAUL: Alright can you can you keep spinning this?

KIRBY: Yup. CHARLIE: Yeah. We got it.

PAUL: I'll go grab your cake.

KIRBY: Awesome. What do you think?

Give me guesses.

CHARLIE: Whoa! That smells weird as can be!

KIRBY: For sure.

Let's give it a taste.

CHARLIE: Oh gosh. PAUL: Let's try it.

CHARLIE: 1... KIRBY: Cheers everyone.

CHARLIE: 2...3...

KIRBY: What on earth is it?

PAUL: Any ideas?

CHARLIE: Oh! KIRBY: I don't even know!

PAUL: Well that's a hotdog frosting.

CHARLIE: OOOO. KIRBY: Ugh!

PAUL: Just for your birthday!

KIRBY: Gross! CHARLIE: That's gross!

So I guess that's why you and Lauren have jobs, so you don't make stuff nasty like this.

PAUL: Exactly.

CHARLIE: Thanks so much for helping us out today Paul!

This has been awesome and entirely disgusting,

but you're clearly really good at your job.

PAUL: Thanks guys, come back any time.

CHARLIE: Alright guys we're gonna head back to HQ,

but we'll see you in a few minutes.

Time to figure out once and for all why Casey doesn't like jalapeno garlic knots!

It makes no sense.

We'll see you in a bit.

KIRBY: Weird but True, your body can detect tastes in just.0015 seconds.

That's as fast as a blink of an eye!

CHARLIE: Hey guys. We just got back from FONA International.

KIRBY: So many flavors!

CHARLIE: S'more flavored potato chip.

We learned a lot about taste and the fact that flavors can

taste differently to different people.

KIRBY: Maybe that's why Casey doesn't like the jalapeno garlic knots.

CHARLIE: Oh yeah, I feel like we're so close to figuring this out!

What else did we learn today?

There were so many Weird but True things.

When you smell something, molecules of what you're smelling enter your nose.

This can be good or bad.

KIRBY: There's a berry that can make sour foods taste sweet.

CHARLIE: To a super taster, even bland foods can be a flavor explosion.

Whoooooooo!

Alright guys, the Casey dilemma.

Why does Casey not like garlic knots?

KIRBY: I don't know cause, they're amazing.

CASEY: Hey guys how's it going?

CHARLIE: We're just trying to figure out why you don't like jalapeno garlic knots.

CASEY: What are you talking about?

I love jalapeno garlic knots.

CHARLIE: But you didn't have any this morning?

CASEY: I had just brushed my teeth.

CHARLIE: Wait what?

CASEY: The sodium lauryl sulfate in my toothpaste lowered the surface tension of

the saliva in my mouth, basically destroying any phospholipids and bitter

receptor inhibitors that were in there.

CHARLIE: That's flavor hacking.

Like with the miracle berry.

CASEY: You bet it's flavor hacking, but you know, that was this morning.

So I'll have a jalapeno garlic knot now.

CHARLIE: Alright we figured it out!

KIRBY: Another mystery solved!

CHARLIE: Celebrate with a garlic knot?

KIRBY: Oh yeah.

CHARLIE: Alright thanks guys so much for stopping by!

Come by again when we discover more things that are weird...

KIRBY: But true!

CHARLIE: We'll see you later!

CHARLIE: Mmm. Yeah. KIRBY: Cheers. Garlic knots, Mmm.

Captioned by Cotter Captioning Services.