Video – Mexico City Residents Losing Sense of Smell
People In Mexico City Losing Their Sense of Smell. Produced by theEMBARQ Network on Vimeo.
Rhys Thom and I recently visited Mexico City where we met with two researchers at UNAM – Mexico’s National University – who are doing some fascinating research. Robyn Hudson, a charismatic professor, originally from Australia who has been living in Mexico City for quite some time, and her colleague Marco Guarneros, a fellow biomedical researcher, conducted a study comparing the ability of Mexico City’s residents to detect certain smells, with the ability of people living in a Tlaxcala, a neighboring town. Mexico City and Tlaxcala are similar in many respects – they share a similar culture and climate, situated high in the mountains of Mexico. But there is one crucial difference: Mexico City has much higher levels of air pollution. When compared to their neighbors, people living in Mexico City need higher concentrations of a smell in order to identify it, a clear indication that their sense of smell is deteriorating.
Watch the movie to learn more.
Below are a few pictures we took while making the movie.
I have lost my sense of smell since I was 5 years old
and now I am 45 years of age my mother said it happened when I was five years old. That I hit my head on something I can see smoke I can see fire I can see mold but I cannot see poison in the air. Dr. said it was permanent.
[...] This stinks. Robyn Hudson, a charismatic professor, originally from Australia who has been living in Mexico City for quite some time, and her colleague Marco, a fellow biomedical researcher, conducted a study comparing the ability of Mexico City’s residents to detect certain smells, with the ability of people living in a Tlaxcala, a neighboring town. Mexico City and Tlaxcala are similar in many respects – they share a similar culture and climate, situated high in the mountains of Mexico. But there is one crucial difference: Mexico City has much higher levels of air pollution. [...]