[Both] Red.
- Ahh! Yes! (both laughing)
- What are we doing, man?
- I tell you man.
- Were you picturing something? 'Cause I was not.
- No, I'm trying not to think about it.
- Yeah, I'm just smelling.
- I'm not thinking about...
- I'm smelling...
- Things that are like it.
- And then I'm like... - I'm thinking about colors...
(upbeat music)
- Good Mythical Morning.
- We're about to find out if human brains
or at least these human brains
have the ability to smell colors.
- And today's episode is sponsored by KiwiCo.
KiwiCO is defining the future of play
by making it engaging, enriching, and seriously fun.
They create really cool hands-on projects and toys
designed to expose kids to concepts in STEAM,
which is Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.
And every project is delivered in one of these
awesome monthly crates.
- Yeah, here it is.
Now, we're big fans of KiwiCo in our house.
Lando loves doing these projects.
I want to show you one of them he made.
This is the Hydraulic Claw Crate,
which he completed all on his own
and learned about hydraulics in the process.
Come here dad, let me grab you.
- Look at that thing.
- Let me grab you by the finger. (chuckles)
- We went to engineering school
and I still don't quite understand it. (laughs)
- He's very meticulous and fastidious
when he goes about these monthly projects,
and I have no idea where he gets it from.
- Well Shep tackled the Glowing Pendulum Crate.
Let's dim the lights to demonstrate this thing.
It's pretty cool. - Do it.
- Check this out.
- Ooh, what, what, what?!
- That's a cool one.
- All of this stuff just seems like magic to me.
Now listen, Shep is not known-
- Science.
- for sitting down and focusing on one thing
for an extended period of time,
but he did just that with this.
And I ain't complaining about.
- Each monthly crate is designed by experts
and teaches a new theme through hands-on learning and fun.
And the really cool thing is there are crates for all ages,
and every crate comes with everything you need,
inside for the project.
No running around looking for scissors or special nuts.
Nobody wants to go around looking for special nuts.
- Yeah.
- I ain't no squirrel.
- Yeah.
- Everything is in the crate.
- And by the way, it is officially holiday shopping time
and KiwiCo crates make for really fun and unique gifts
for just about anybody.
- Mm-hmm, and right now, mythical beast,
you can try your first month of KiwiCo for free
by going to KiwiCo.com/GMM
or clicking the link in the description.
That's KiwiCo.com/GGM.
- Yes. Now, for today, we're asking one question.
Can we smell colors?
And allow me to phrase that as a scientific query.
Can we have fun with how our olfactory receptors
are affected by the presence of specific colors
in a series of quasi-scientific experiments?
Hypothesis?
Yes?
It's time for what does green smell like?
We're about to find out!
And would a red bass smell different
than a dang rainbow trout?
Boopity boop, boop, boop, boop, boop.
That's right. It's research time.
Now, while neither of us have synesthesia
which is a condition in which - No.
two or more senses are involuntarily connected,
Link has proven on this show that he has
the unique superhuman ability to taste the colors of M&Ms.
But only M&Ms.
- Right.
So today we're going to be replicating
a series of actual scientific tests
to examine the strength of our color-odor connections,
and maybe find out if at least one of us can,
in fact, smell colors.
(upbeat music)
- All right, Stevie, tell us what our noses are in for.
- [Stevie] A study out of the University of Sao Paulo,
examined the use of color in perfume packaging
and whether certain package colors better reflect
the message of a fragrance.
- [Stevie] To do this, they asked participants
what colors they associated with the scent
of a specific perfume and then match the results
to actual packaging.
The goal was to see if olfactory perception
and color perception are at all linked.
- Yes, yes.
- [Stevie] In front of you are three perfumes
and three colored boxes.
- I see that. - Yes.
- [Stevie] Can you work together
to smell each perfume - Feels like Sesame Street.
and match them to their packaging
based purely on scent?
- Of course.
- All right, so number one.
We're gonna spray these on paper.
- We're gonna spray these on cards
just like they do at the department store
when they get those little pieces of paper you spray on.
- Did that-
- More. Yeah.
- There we go, okay.
It gets a little close.
Oh, you're getting close.
I can smell it from here.
- That feels like it could be a man's cologne.
I know that-
- It's not too heavy.
- I know that it's...
In fact, Mythical Number Five was a unisex cologne.
But this feels...
Now first of all, this one is wood colored.
It's not just black.
If you look closely, that's a wood grain.
So if you smell like a... you know, I'm a woodman.
- Now, you put it on number two, but this is number one.
(laughs)
So you're not really helping us here.
So give me number one.
- Sorry,
- And I'll put it on number two.
- Oh, gosh. (laughing)
- Don't put it on number three.
- I'm just trying to make it even more confusing.
- All right, and then...
So here's number two, which is on card number one.
- Orange. That feels orange to me.
Super orange.
- Orange?
Oh.
- It almost smells like an orange.
So is that number two or number one?
- It does have a citrus hint.
- That's number two and you put it on number one.
- This number two on card number one,
which we're saying goes with orange.
- [Rhett] And I feel like this one
goes with this one. - [Link] For now.
We're thinking we're gonna smell
something pink on this last one.
- Should I shake this one up?
- Always shake it.
- Always shake up your perfume? Porfoom?
- Perfoom. Always shake your perfoom.
- Okay, let me sniff first this time
'cause you're spoiling it for me.
- Okay.
- Okay. That one is floral.
- Oh, pink. That's so pink.
- I would definitely think that's pink.
- That smells like some grandma stuff right there.
- There we go.
We've got one, two, three, right in that order, Stevie.
That's what we're thinking.
Make quick work of that. Ha!
- Ha ha! Our noses are so smart.
- Take that Sao Paulo.
- [Stevie] Okay, the study found that,
according to its participants,
certain smells are represented by certain colors.
- Yes.
- [Stevie] So using package colors that capitalize
on this correspondence between vision and olfaction
may increase a company's influence over the consumer.
Bottle number one
is Ballroom by Be Soliflore.
It has notes of honeysuckle, magnolia, and daffodil,
and comes in...
the pink box.
- Okay, I'm leaving. I'm leaving.
- You were so adamant. You were so adamant.
- But you agreed with me.
- I mean, 'cause you were so adamant.
- But hold on, but it seemed so obvious to me.
- [Link] So we're switching these.
All right, so that has to be-
- Hold on. Give me number...
Give me the things again so we can smell them.
- No, no. It's over. (crew laughs)
- No, no.
- Let's find out if we're right about the switch,
'cause I know that this orange is right.
- [Stevie] Bottle number two is Happy by Clinique,
a fragrance that contains hints
of melon, grapefruit, and mandarin.
And it comes in the orange box.
So you were correct. - Yeah, right.
I just, I have to do this just for my own sanity.
- We were good with that one.
That one was pretty obvious.
- [Stevie] And bottle number three
is Black Walnut by Banana Republic.
It has hints of cognac, tobacco, and cedar,
and comes in the brown box.
- Yeah, I smell that.
- [Stevie] That's where I'm confused what you guys smelled.
(crew laughs)
- What I've just learned is that if you see the box,
then it helps you interpret the color.
That's the way they want it to work anyway.
- Yeah, it kind of has reconciled itself in my mind now.
(laughing)
- Is that as close as we're gonna get to an apology?
- Yeah, I don't have to apologize.
- I'm so sorry, guys.
(upbeat music)
- All right, Stevie, what's next for our noses?
- [Stevie] A study in the science journal PLOS One-
- Oh yeah, PlOS One.
- [Stevie] Asked a group of about 20 people
from different cultures to blindly smell
a collection of different scents
and say what colors were most evoked by each one.
They found consistent patterns in color-odor connections
within each culture,
possibly due to shared experiences, dietary habits,
the role of fragrances in each society,
and other social factors.
- Just general culture.
- [Stevie] If odor-color associations
are consistent within cultures,
two guys who grew up in the same place,
with the same experiences, and the same first girlfriend
should smell similar colors, right?
- We're gonna smell our first girlfriend?
- [Stevie] Okay. - Nope.
- [Stevie] I want you both to smell
these potent extracts and oils
and say what color you think of when you smell each scent.
So you gonna smell a scent,
and then I'm gonna give you a three, two, one,
and then you're gonna say a color.
- Let's get in sync. Let's get in sync, man.
- We got to get in Harnett County sync.
- All right, breathe. Breathe in.
Mmmm.
- [Both] Mmmm. (crew laughs)
- I'm smelling the tobacco fields.
- Yeah, we're there.
- That's pretty much the the predominant scent
in Harnett County.
- I feel like we're in sync.
- All right, bring in the sticks.
- [Stevie] Got a color?
- Yeah.
- [Stevie] Three, two, one.
- [Both] Yellow.
(both yelling)
- Yes! Yes, right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because-
- Yeah, 'cause it smelled like yellow.
- Yeah, it was kinda... it had a sour-
- Yeah.
- Not a citrus.
- Just yellow.
- But it just had a yellow.
I don't know what it was.
- Yeah.
- [Stevie] Okay, scent number two.
You smell a color?
- Ooh.
- I can get really specific with this.
- [Stevie] Okay. Three, two, one.
- [Both] Red. (both yelling)
- What are we doing, man?
- I tell you, man.
- Were you picturing something? 'Cause I was not.
- No, I'm trying not to think about it.
- Yeah, I'm just smelling.
- I'm not thinking about-
- I'm smelling-
- Things that are like it.
- And then I'm like-
- I'm thinking about colors and the way they smell.
- Yeah, I'm driving down the country roads.
- Harnett County.
- [Stevie] Okay, let's go for another.
Ready?
- Yeah, yeah.
[Stevie] Three, two, one.
- Brown. - Purple.
- Okay, we were both dark.
(Rhett grunting)
If you add red to purple, I think you get brown.
- Right, that's true.
Yeah, if you leave purple outside too long, it turns brown.
- That's what it is.
- [Stevie] It's okay. You have one more-
- Rotten purple.
- [Stevie] One more chance. (Link chuckles)
Let's smell this last one.
Ready?
- No.
Okay. Ooh, wow, I don't know about this one.
- [Stevie] Three, two, one.
- [Both] White.
- Yeah! (Rhett yelling)
We're back on top, baby!
- What!
- You know, it's just, it's totally science.
- [Stevie] Yeah, it matches the experiment.
So, this experiment also found
that certain color-odor associations were universal.
For example, the US, Germany, China, and the Netherlands
all paired fruity odors with pink and red colors,
and musty odors with orange and browns.
Interestingly, most countries associated
the smell of plastic with black, gray, or white,
but Germany associated with it pastels
like blue, orange, and pink.
- Oh, German pastels.
(upbeat music)
- Alright, we have wines.
Hit us with the test.
- [Stevie] We all know that aroma
is an important factor when enjoying wine.
But another defining characteristic of wine is color.
These glasses have all been treated to look the same.
Smell each one and tell me which are truly red wines
and which are white wines
by pushing the red wine glasses forward.
And please describe the nose of the wine as you sniff,
starting with number one.
- So here we go.
- Just the nose, huh?
Oh my gosh, I keep thinking I'm gonna-
- Smells like wine.
- I think I'm gonna know and then I second guess myself.
- There's not a lot to it. It's definitely not...
There's not a thickness. (crew laughs)
- In other words, if it's a red, it's like a pinot.
- [Link] I just smell a light, a light floaty wine.
- I don't know, man.
- We gotta move on.
- I'm gonna push it forward
because it smells like a very light-bodied red wine,
which it probably means it's a white wine.
- And then this one.
Ooh, this one's stank.
This one's got some...
Does this one have some fish in it?
Is this where the red bass comes in? (laughing)
- Yeah, this is red bass wine.
Only the young virgin red bass that we squeeze. (laughs)
- This has a sour-ier.
- I'm gonna definitely leave this one right here
and not push it forward.
- [Link] Yeah, I'm gonna pull...
I'm gonna even pull that one back a little bit.
- Pull it back then why don't you.
- [Link] Now, we're off to number three.
- Oh, that smells like nothing I've ever smelled
in the wine department.
- I think I'm just smelling the glass.
I think this may just be water.
- What the heck is that?
- There's no... I'm not smelling of that.
- I'm gonna leave this one there.
I'm not pushing that forward just because,
just because it doesn't smell like any wine I've ever had
and I usually drink red.
So I'm just gonna keep it there.
- I mean, this one I didn't think had strong nose,
now has the strongest.
- Hold on. So you're now pushing this forward?
- Well, I've pulled these two back.
- Oh. (laughs)
Okay, but you're saying they're all white so far?
- I have, but that's why I'm going back
and saying that that one has to be.
- Okay, and the fourth one.
- There we go.
Now we got some tannins kicking in.
Boy, I'm smelling a saddle.
That one's going forward.
- That one definitely smells red to me.
That's what I'm saying.
I'm saying one and four, red,
two and three white, and you're agreeing.
- I am. I wasn't, but now I am.
- [Stevie] Okay.
The first glass is a red cab.
- [Rhett] Oh, cab.
- [Stevie] Good job. The second glass-
- It's definitely stronger than I thought it was.
- [Stevie] Is a white sauvignon blanc.
- Yeah. - Yep.
I've never said that out loud before.
I don't order that wine.
- Sauvignon blanc.
- [Rhett] Sauvignon blanc.
- [Stevie] Yeah, the fourth glass is a red Chianti.
- That is right.
- Yeah.
And now, the third.
- [Stevie] And the third glass...
was coconut water. (laughing)
- Right!
- Yeah, we were like, that ain't wine.
- [Stevie] Okay, so this was inspired by
a Stanford experiment where the white wine,
dyed with odorless red food coloring,
was perceived as having the odors of a red wine.
The subjects also chose odors represented
by red or dark objects to describe the white wine,
proving that color not only facilitates
odor identifications, but can also influence judgments
of odor intensity and pleasantness.
- Unless you're like, you know, a sommelier. (chuckles)
- Like us.
You know, red bass and saddles, that's the world we live in.
- Red Bass and Saddles is our new wine shop. (laughing)
(upbeat music)
- As you can see, we can't.
So Stevie, you're gonna have to tell us what do.
- [Stevie] everything will be okay.
- Okay, thank you. - Thank you.
- [Stevie] The previous tests have shown us
that olfactory responses are highly influenced by color.
Well, let's take away your sight
and see how well you can just straight up smell color.
You will now be presented with a series of foods,
each of which comes in a variety of colors.
Let's bring in the first food.
I mean, just for funsies though, do you know what this is?
- Well, an Apple.
- [Link] Is it there?
- [Stevie] No. (laughs) Yeah.
- So it's cauliflower. - I smell something cold.
- [Stevie] It's cauliflower.
- Yeah, the ol' cauliflower apple.
Should be a little farty.
- [Stevie] So you're guessing if it's white or purple,
and I'm gonna give you a three, two, one.
- Purple? What?
- [Stevie] Well, yeah.
You've never seen a purple cauliflower?
- Yeah, man. You never seen a purple cauliflower?
- [Stevie] This is going well.
Three, two, one.
- White. - Purple.
- [Stevie] It's white.
- Yeah, right.
- Oh, 'cause you never heard of purple. (laughs)
- Right, it doesn't exist. That was a trick question.
- [Stevie] Okay, the next food.
It's rice.
So you're trying to guess-
- Oh, okay. I can smell it now.
- [Stevie] Is the rice white or brown?
- I've heard of this brown rice.
- 50/50 chance, Rhett.
- [Stevie] Three-
- You could just smell and know.
- [Stevie] Two, one.
- Brown. - White.
- [Stevie] It's white.
- Oh, okay. - Yeah.
- Yeah.
- [Stevie] Okay, here's the next food.
It's carrots.
- Carrots. So these can...
There's so many colors of carrots.
There's orange and uh...
- There's purple carrots too.
- [Stevie] Yeah, purple.
Three, two, one.
- Purple. - Purple. Yeah.
- [Stevie] Yeah, they're purple.
- Yeah. - Yeah, yeah.
- I can smell that. It was something about-
- There's like an acidity to it.
- The scent.
- [Stevie] Yeah, you guys really owned that one.
- [Stevie] Okay, next.
Link, this is your favorite.
- Oh, it is?
- [Stevie] They're tomatoes.
They're not even cut open anything, so. (chuckles)
- I thought you'd brought my wife under here.
- [Stevie] Oh, boy.
Red or yellow tomatoes is what you're guessing.
- Okay.
- [Stevie] Three, two, one.
- Yellow. - Red.
- [Stevie] They're yellow.
- Oh.
I just...
- Yep.
- I keep my distance. - Falling off, man.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Falling off, falling off!
- [Stevie] Okay, ready?
You should be able to...
I think you might be able to smell this is.
- Corn chips.
- [Rhett] Corn?
- [Stevie] Yeah.
So are they yellow? - [Rhett] Are they blue?
- [Stevie] Yep, yellow or blue?
- Okay.
- [Stevie] Okay.
Three,
two,
one.
- [Both] Blue.
- Yeah, definitely.
- [Stevie] Yep. - Oh, we're in sync now.
- [Rhett] Yeah, that's blue corn.
- We're back in Harnett County.
- [Stevie] I think you guys tied.
I think it's the Harnett County tie.
- Are we done?
- [Stevie] Yeah, you're done.
You can take off your blindfolds.
- All right, so...
Can we see colors? Yes. (laughing)
- Can we see colors? Yep.
Can we smell them?
- Sometimes. - Kinda?
- Science! Thanks for subscribing and clicking that bell.
- There is a strong association and that's all that matters.
- That's right.
- You know what time it is.
- Hi, I'm Brianne.
- I'm Jacob.
- We're sand sledding at Great Sand Dunes National Park-
- In Colorado and
- [Both] It's time to spin the Wheel of Mythicality!
- I hope it's as fun as they make it seem
like they're about to have.
- The walking back up is not.
- Ah, you got to get a lift.
Click the top link to watch us take
a wine essence smell test in Good Mythical More.
- Yeah, and to find out where the Wheel of Mythicality
is gonna land.
- Curious about the mythical society?
Well, in celebration of my birthday,
new purchases of 2nd and 3rd Degree
monthly and quarterly plans are available
at a huge discount through October 21st.
Join at mythicalsociety.com