Fearfully and Wonderfully Made: The Astonishing New Science of the Senses

Human senses are “far more powerful than we know,” according to this uneven study. Psychology Today columnist Seaberg (Tasting the Universe) highlights research on hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch that is changing the scientific understanding of perception. Humans, she argues, have a stronger sense of sight and smell than scientists once thought, citing studies that found humans outperform dogs in detecting certain scents and can see even a single photon of light. Seaberg also profiles individuals with keen sensory abilities, including retired nurse Joy Milne, whose ability to detect Parkinson’s disease by smell led to the development of an early diagnostic test, and sommelier Marzi Pecen, a “supertaster” who likely has twice as many taste buds as the average person. The science of how the senses function fascinates (taste is the result of chemicals in food changing proteins in the walls of taste buds’ sensory cells, which send messages that nerve cells pass on to the brain), but Seaberg undermines her credibility by taking seriously people who claim to be able to sense “a location on the other side of the world” or “an event that happened long ago.” Readers would be better off with Ashley Ward’s Where We Meet the World. (Aug.)