Slashdot Mirror
This Just In: People Smell
SAPHRguru writes "New
Scientist reports (10 Nov) that researchers may have taken a big step
towards solving the mystery of how humans detect pheromones... we do it through
our noses! Strange, I always thought I responded to chemical cues through
my mouth (especially in brownies)!"
Now I can tell all those people that tell me that my feet smell that they are wrong.
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
For a short minute I thought Slashdot had been hacked again. LMAO.
Strange, I always thought I responded to chemical cues through my mouth (especially in brownies)!
Was that a pot reference?
Is he talking about *special* brownies?
Ok, I'm confused. According to the article:
...scientists have never been able to identify a VMO in humans, despite evidence that they do respond to pheromones.
But that doesn't sound right. Believe it or not, I actually wrote a paper for my freshman psychology class back in Fall '96 on the effect of human pheromones and the VMO. At that time, at least, it was fairly well known that the VMO did indeed exist in humans, and that even its location in the human body was known (See this and this, for example).
So when did it vanish from scientific literature, or was its existence called into question?
Ferrari and other exotic car rentals in New York
Guys, relax. The article clearly states that this study was done on MICE and not HUMANS!! They're just making a guess that people detect pheromones through their nose, too -- they don't know this.
Talk about jumping the gun...
GMD
watch this
The team is now trying to determine how the process may work in humans. "But we don't generally use urine as a social signal," notes Katz.
Hey, speak for yourself, Professor Science! I find pissing in the direction of someone I don't like to be much easier and cleaner than flinging my feces at them and it gets the point across just as effectively!
...So I'll do it.
Ahem.
My dog has no nose.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
...just got an entirely new meaning for these scientists. It's kind of annoying to see that valuable tax dollars (luckily I'm Europeean, but that doesn't change the fact that I find it a big waste of money) go to scientific research that comes up with 'new' facts that have been generally known for years.
You said: "of course humans also dectect phermerones with their noses. why wouldn't they if other mammals do? i know science is about being skeptical and all, but is it that big of a jump and illogical to expect that humans detect phermerones by smelling?"
Scientists believe that pherormones are suppressed in humans. One point of evidence cited is that about the time that homonids developed color vision, a pheromonal pathway gene mutated and became unusable. One item of speculation from that is that color vision gives advantages of finding mates from a distance rather than close up as would be required when recieving pheromones. This would make the need for pheromonal pathways much less important (so much less important that subsequent mutation didn't affect survival). Additionally, many other mammals don't have color vision and tend to be much more receptive to pheromones than humans.
Suddenly, the hairy finger of a familiar monkey tapped me on the shoulder. It was time.--G. T.
You don't even know its name. How much work did you really do?
Are pheromones delivered through the *exact same* sensory mechanism as smell, or do they diverge into separate paths at some point?
I ask because I have congenital anosmia -- no sense of smell. None. What I want to know is whether I'm still picking up on the subtle messages delivered by pheromones.
-
Roses are #FF0000, Violets are #0000FF, find / -name '*base*' |xargs chown -R us && mv zig greatjustice
A: When he eats his first Brownie!
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
Also just in: Oxygen deprivation may lead to death!
Q.
Insert Signature Here
...is that they only quote one doctor.
That quote is at the end of the article.
The doctor tells us, "But we don't generally use urine as a social signal."
They didn't get anything else they could print?
Since we really don't know for sure, lets spend $50 million to find out.
It could well be worth that much of an investment to marketing specialists.
If the mechanism is determined, then you can bet that the next time you walk into a department store or a casino you'll be feeling extra sexy for a reason.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
(n/t)
~Chris Hammond