Smelling love?
2008-01-30, 12:19 a.m.
A very enlightening article in February 4th 2008 copy of Time. I quote..(looks like i spend my whole day typing straight out of text) for the benefit of those without this wonderful magazine. Lol.
Scent not only tells males which females are primed to conceive, but it also lets both sexes narrow their choices of potential partners. Among the constellation of genes that control the immune system are those known as the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), which influence tissue rejection. Conceive a child with a person whose MHC is too similar to your own, and the risk increases that the womb will expel the fetus. Find a partner with sufficiently different MHC, and you're likelier to carry a baby to term.
Well..the interesting part is this.
In later work conducted at the University of Bern in Switzerland, human females were asked to smell T shirts worn by anonymous males and then pick which ones appealed to them. Time and again, they chose the ones worn by men with a safely different MHC, And if the smell of MHC isn't a deal maker or breaker, the taste is. Saliva also contains the compound, a fact that Hselton believes may partly explain the custom of kissing, particularly those protracted sessions that stop short of intercourse. "Kissing," she said simply, "might be a taste test."
Precise as the MHC-detection system is, it can be confounded. One thing that throws us off the scent is the birth-control pill. Women who are on the Pill - which chemically simulates pregnancy - tend to choose wrong in the T-shirt test. When they discontinue the daily hormone dose, the protective smell mechanism kicks back in. "A colleague of mine wonders if the Pill may contribute to divorce," says Wysocki. "Women pick a husband when they're on birth control, then quit to have a baby and realize they've made a mistake."
Maybe that explains why i'm such a sucker for nice smelling guys and girls. =X All in all, the whole article was enlightening and entertaining. And just a random note, for those who knows who Zhihong is, yes if you find that even vaguely familiar, you know him. =P He's going to be taking Japanese classes at the same place as me on the same days but the shift before mine next month! Funny how the world works...
Sapph
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