Thanks to Matthew for sending me the link to this Wired blog post about research into the human response to inhaling sex hormones. George Preti of the Monell Chemical Senses Center, found that women were better able to detect human body odor when it was masked by scent or deodorant.
Researchers there are doing lots of interesting research into how human olfaction, aka smelling, influences behavior. I've written about their study showing that lap dancers make more money when they're fertile. They've also shown differences in the way gay and straight people respond to inhaling androgens.
I think they are moving toward proving that humans respond to pheromones just like the rest of our butt-sniffing mammalian cousins, thanks to the vomeronasal organ, which is not so vestigial as they thought. I think this is important and valuable, because it reminds us that our animal bodies are as important as our analytical cerebral cortexes.
And, for the purposes of this oxytocin-centric blog, I think we also inhale molecules of oxytocin given out by others, which helps initiate trust.
