Jun 15, 2021
Six dozen rats and months of literally wandering in the woods taught Dr. Rachel Herz what she didn't want out of life...
Rachel Herz, Ph.D. is a neuroscientist and world leading expert on the psychological science of smell. She has been conducting research on the senses, emotion, perception, motivated behavior and cognition since 1990. Dr. Herz is a TEDx speaker, has published over 95 original research papers, received numerous awards and grants, co-authored scholarly handbooks, and is an adjunct professor in the Medical School of Brown University and part-time faculty in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Boston College.
She is also a professional consultant to various industries regarding scent, taste, food and flavor, and is frequently called upon as an expert witness in legal cases involving olfaction. Dr. Herz is the author of several academic and popular science books including the leading college textbook on Sensation & Perception (Oxford University Press) now in its 6thedition, The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell (2007; Harper Collins), which was selected as a finalist for the “2009 AAAS Prize for Excellence in Science Books,” and That’s Disgusting: Unraveling the Mysteries of Repulsion (2012; W.W. Norton & Co), which analyzes the emotion of disgust from culture to neuroscience, and was listed as a New York Times Book Review “Editor’s Choice”. Her latest book Why You Eat What You Eat: The Science Behind Our Relationship with Food (2018; W.W. Norton & Co) explores how our senses, brain and psychology govern our perception of food, and the experiences and consequences of eating. Why You Eat What You Eat was a finalist for the “2018 Readable Feast Awards” and listed among the “Best Food Books of 2018” by The Smithsonian and The New Yorker.
In this episode…
In this episode of Unconventional Life, Dr. Rachel Herz shares her story of discovery with Dr. Russell Strickland. She discusses how her early academic experiences taught her what she didn't like and how she was able to find nuggets from each of those experiences to craft her eventual career. Dr. Herz goes on to her describe "the hardest thing" she's ever done (and, no, it wasn't her dissertation) and what it was like to turn science into a story for her first book.
Learn what you don't like early, so that you can mine the gold from your experiences and build a life you will treasure!