For a time I turn on NPR, something I normally never do since I hate the honied, insolent voices. Only I can’t find a sports call-in out here in the middle of nowhere. This afternoon, there’s a story from Penn State’s Sensory Evaluation Center. A statistically appreciable virus is being watched at the CDC in Atlanta, which can cause—if you’re unlucky enough to contract it—dramatic smell and taste distortions in ordinary humans. Coffee smells like garlic; peanut butter and feces both smell like burning rubber. All meat tastes putrid. There are podcasts, training kits, support groups and
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