Everyone can feel fear, but can you smell it?
Let's talk about that.
♪ (theme music) ♪
Good Mythical Morning!
You've probably heard that dogs and bees can smell fear.
That's actually debatable, but today we are gonna explore whether humans can
- smell fear, and... is it contagious? - (scoffs) What?
(explosion noise) Half of your brain exploded and it got on me.
- This half. The half that listens to you. - I'll clean that off later.
- This half is always in its own world. - Interesting study by Stony Brook
University in New York-- link to the article in the description-- found that
people who are scared give off pheromones. Fear-omones. It's basically a hormone that
- kinda makes you... - I thought pheromones were a good thing,
- like makes you attractive. - Well, they may be, okay? We can
explore that too. Here's the experiment: They taped absorbent pads to the underarms
of 40 volunteers who had never been skydiving.
- I'm not the only person that does that? - (laughs) That's your technique?
Yeah, I've had some desperate moments when I've done that as a youngster.
- Yeah. - Like, I'm so nervous, I don't wanna get
the whole drainage down the arm, like the trickle-trickle-trickle?
- Yeah. - Anyway, they'd never been skydiving.
They take them up skydiving and then they take their fear-sweat-soaked pads
- Mmhm. - and then they let another group of
- volunteers sniff the pads. - Lucky volunteers! (sniffs)
Or some of those people also got to smell non-fear sweat.
- Just, like, regular sweat. - And then they monitored the brain
activity. They didn't even ask them what they thought. They monitored their brain
activity and they found that the brain's fear centers lit up whenever they smelled
only the fear-soaked skydiving sweat and not the other sweat. So, the conclusion
was: humans can smell fear and it might be a subconscious thing or a...
- You smell fear, you get fearful. - pheromonal thing. But yeah, it's
- contagious. It's fascinating, isn't it? - Okay, well here's what we're gonna do
in order to test this out: we're going to be subjected to either something that
scares us or something that makes us very happy.
- Uh huh. - One at a time. And while that person is
being subjected to that thing, the other person is gonna go to an isolation booth
and we're gonna come back, we're gonna smell each other-- well, the person who--
- ... who's gone comes back and smells. - smells the underarms and decides if you
- were just scared or fearful or whatever. - And if we become scared, we know that
- it's probably because the person-- - You were scared.
- was scared. So... - This is science, people!
Let's do the experiment. To the Fear-iment Zone!
Okay, here we are in the Fear-iment Zone. We're basically in the same place except
now we're standing and we're wearing tank tops.
We're wearing tank tops because tank tops provide easy access to underarms, which--
Show your underarms, Link! You're gonna be-- whoa. You're gonna be showing 'em
a lot! We're gonna be smelling each other's underarms, which, incidentally,
- I don't think we've ever done before. - And never again, hopefully.
We're gonna send you to the isolation booth first, and then I will be subjected
to something that scares me or something that makes me happy. You'll come back from
the isolation booth, smell me, and you'll see if I was scared, whatever.
Okay, okay yeah. And then we'll switch it up.
- And vice versa. - All right, all right, I'll be in here.
- Good luck. - (Link) Sound isolated.
- ♪ (jazzy music) ♪ - (Link) Okay, here I am.
It's a little bit creepy. You guys better not leave me in here!
(Stevie) Okay, now I'm gonna drop you off somewhere.
- ♪ (suspenseful music) ♪ - (Stevie) Okay, now turn this way and
- take a step up. - (Rhett whimpers)
- (crew laughs) - (Stevie) Now hold on. Okay, now climb.
(ladder creaks)
I'm not happy. I'm not happy about this.
(ladder creaks)
Is it a-- oh! (laughs nervously) Aie.
(Stevie) One more step.
(Stevie) Okay, take off your blindfold.
I'm not... I'm not comfortable. (sighs) I'm very scared of heights.
I do not like being on top-- what is this, a 16-foot ladder?
I'm just gonna let-- I'm gonna let the fear set in. I'm gonna go up one more step.
- (ladder creaks) - (whispers) Oh, okay.
(Rhett) Yeah. Ohh! Okay. I'm fearful right now. I don't know how much Link is gonna
be able to detect that, but I am definitely not happy. I'm very fearful.
- (Link sniffs) - Hey man, how's the isolation chamber?
I'm not smelling anything yet. Boring. It's boring in there.
Get in there. There's people who do this for a living.
I don't smell anything on that one. I don't smell ANYTHING on that one.
- (Rhett) It's neutral, huh? pH balanced. - I smell deodorant on that one.
- Strong enough for a woman. - You only put deodorant on the right pit?
- No, I probably put more though. - Um, I don't smell anything, really.
- I don't feel any fear right now. - Do it again.
Nothing. I mean, I almost feel happy, so I don't know if happiness is contagious, but
I'm gonna say... no fear. I'm not getting any fear.
Well, you're wrong, Link. I climbed to the top of the very tall ladder and you know
- that I am scared of heights. - Were you scared?
- Yeah! - Did you cry like a baby?
- No, 'cause I don't-- - You didn't push it hard enough.
Well, I'm not gonna panic because if you panic, you fall. But I got up
there, my palms got sweaty, I was very uncomfortable, and I let it
register. I let it register in my pits.
- Hm. All right, lemme have a shot at it. - Good luck!
All right, get outta here.
♪ (jazzy music) ♪
- (Stevie) Okay, ready? - Okay, so take off the blindfold?
- (Stevie) Uh huh. - I smell something,
- but I don't know what it is. - (Stevie) Go ahead.
- (laughs) Hah, yeah! - ♪ (cheerful music) ♪
I was afraid of what it might be. (laughs) Wow, guys! Is it my birthday? This is
great! This is great. But I was a little afraid before this so I don't know if I--
Mm. (slurps) This is pretty much a dream of mine. A huge bowl of cereal.
Frosted Mini-Wheats. (slurps and chews)
Okay, bring him in!
- (Stevie) Okay, here comes Rhett. - (whispers) Is it out of my teeth?
- Take a sniffy sniffy. Really sniff. - I am, I'm just... I'm getting a waft
- first. I got a technique, man. - (laughs)
- (sniffs) - (laughs)
- Oh, whoa. Whoa whoa whoa. - (laughs)
- Is that your breath or your underarm? - (crew laughs)
- Close your mouth completely. - (laughs)
(Link and crew laugh)
Weird.
- What's it smell like? - I don't smell anything, but--
- Really? - I'm fearful, but I don't know if it's--
- Smell real hard. - This one's different.
Mm. Smell this one, dude. Get up on this and smell it. And be honest about
what you smell.
(shouts) Augh!
- (laughs) - (retches)
I didn't put on deodorant this morning.
(laughs) It legitimately stinks, doesn't it.
- Yeah. - I can smell myself.
- (mocking) I can smell myself! - (laughs)
- Ugh! - This one's okay.
Yeah, you got some unevens problems. I'm not gonna lie to you, I'm gonna go
with my instinct. I just walked up here and when I-- I think it was I was afraid
to interact with you in this way, that could be it.
- Ah, right. - But as soon as I started smelling,
- I got a little scared. - And then-- describe what that smells
- like once you really get in there. - B.O.
- (laughs) Yeah, it is. - But so... I don't know, you don't seem
like you've been frightened, but I'm not-- my instincts tell me that you've been
- scared. - I'm going totally neutral so you can
- take that out of the equation. - But my nose tells me that you were
scared. I felt a little bit of fear. I'm not making that up.
Okay, I wanna show you what I was subjected to.
(Link laughs) Check that out! Ain't nothing scary about that.
Hold on, so we're proving this whole thing wrong.
So far. But hey, let's do two more rounds. This is as happy as I've been in a couple
- of months! - That's a big bowl of cereal.
All right, I'm going back in the isolation booth.
I gotta get my blindfold on. Take your cereal with you.
It's your turn.
- ♪ (suspenseful music) ♪ - (Stevie) Okay, you ready to take off
your blindfold? One, two, three, Eddie! Rhett, go ahead, take 'em off now.
Guh... (shouts) What! Yeaegh! Ngh...
I hate... I hate bugs of all kinds. And I-- where'd the heck did you get
this kind of stuff? (sputters) What, where, where'd you get these things?!
Do I have to stay down in-- do I have to stay in here?
Eeegh-- (yelps) Agh! (incoherent high-pitched noises)
I can safely say there are some fear-omones that were released during
the initial stages of that, that if it is possible to smell fear, Link will.
- (Link sniffs) Lemme put this down. - You didn't eat all that, did you?
(Link) Yeah, I had to do something while I was--
- You ate all that cereal? - Wouldn't you?
- No. - And now that I've eaten all that cereal,
- I'm gonna smell your armpits. - Yeah.
- I actually touched hair to my nose. - Augh!
- That is gross. That is commitment. - Ugh. How'd it feel?
- (laughs) It's so conveniently eye level. - You're the first person that's ever told
- me that. - It smells good, but I'm-- (laughs)
Your armpits are so conveniently eye level!
All right, put your arms down. It smells good, but I feel apprehensive.
- Really? Apprehensive? - And there's a little water in your eyes,
- so I feel like that's a little fear. - (mocking) A little fear... (laughs)
Um... it smells too good. No fear. No fear, changing my mind, last second.
- Stick your hand in there. - I'm not sticking my hand in there.
- Ohh! What is that? - (Rhett) Roaches.
All right, let me go for this last round, which I'm sure will be something
- nice again. - (claps)
Get outta here. Isolate yourself in terms of sound.
- (Stevie) You guys ready? - (Chase) I'm ready.
- (Eddie) Yeah. - (Stevie) Link, don't take off your
- blindfold until I tell you to. - (Link) Okay.
- (Stevie) Okay, on the count of three... - (Link) All right, okay...
- ♪ (suspenseful music) ♪ - (Stevie) One, two, three!
(screams) Aaagh! What?! What?! What is that? Something went into my mouth!
- (Chase growls and laughs) - Sounds like Chase in there.
- (crew laughs) - It scared me for a second. What is that?
- What'd you put in my mouth? - (Chase, muffled) Tomato.
- Eugh, it really does taste like tomato. - (Chase laughs)
Okay. Um, we're gonna have to play that back to see how scared I actually was,
but something tells me that there was a moment-- (laughs) that there was an
embarrassing moment of fear.
(slowed down screaming)
Okay, well we gotta-- let's clean this up a little bit so when Rhett comes in
I can play it cool.
(Stevie) Okay, Rhett's coming. You guys all set?
- Give the armpits a whiff. - What-- what is on you?
It might be the smell of fear. It might be the smell of...
- Tomatoes? What? - Could be... could be a number of things.
- How's it smell? - Fruity! Some of that fruity smell.
- It's weird. I definitely smell a ketchup. - Really get in there.
Eugh, that left one is some-- what-- what's wrong with you?!
- (crew laughs) - You been working harder on the left side
- of your body?! It's horrible! - (laughs)
(Rhett) You should be ashamed of yourself! No one should smell like that!
I smell it too. I'm sorry. I didn't put on deodorant this morning. I wanted it to
- be pure. - Here's the deal. Those people who did
the test that we used as a reference, they just smelled pads. But I come in here
and you're going like this and you got tomatoes on you. I mean, I know you don't
like tomatoes, so it had to be bad, you know? I'm just using my brain here.
So, do you smell fear? Do you experience fear?
I'm gonna be honest with you. I do not-- I just smell arms. Underarms.
- The left one stinks. - (Link and crew laugh)
- It does. - The right one smells like tomatoes.
- Okay. - But I believe that you were frightened.
Let's just keep the streak alive, that we don't smell fear, that we don't have it.
We don't have this ability. I don't think you were scared. My nose doesn't think
- you were scared. - But your mind thinks that--
- My mind knows that you were. - All right, this is what I was
presented with.
Make the noise, Chase. Go all the way.
- (Chase grunts) - (Rhett and crew laugh)
Okay, that's enough. Go away. Never enter my dreams.
- Oh my. - It was pitch black.
- There was a spotlight involved. - (laughs) That's scary!
- And he squeezed tomato... - That is-- (laughs) That is scary!
- He squeezed tomatoes all over me-- - Agh!
- And into my mouth. - (laughs) Oh gosh. That is scary, Chase!
- Wow. - (crew laughs)
Back to the Desk Zone.
- Okay, I feel safe back here at the desk. - I feel safe 'cause I'm on your right side.
- (laughs) - I mean, we need to discuss...
I don't know. I didn't wear deodorant because I wanted there it to just be
- unadulterated. And I don't think-- - It was unadulterated. I feel adulterated.
- (laughs) - All I know is: neither one of us did a
good job. In fact, we were wrong basically every time. We didn't smell it.
But hey, maybe the findings are controversial. Maybe we don't know.
Maybe you smelled fear. Let us know in the comments.
- (laughs) - Thanks for liking this video.
You know what time it is.
Hello. I'm Peyton from Alexandria, Virginia. It's cold up here. And it's time
to spin the Wheel of Mythicality.
We've got an Instagram. If you've got one, you should follow us on there because
- every Wednesday is Waffle Wednesday! - (Link) Wooooo!
Click through to Good Mythical More where we share our deepest fears.
- What? - Deepest darkest fears.
(Rhett) Freeze frame!
♪ (piano music) ♪
[Captioned by Caitrin: GMM Captioning Team]