fun fact #2 is suuuuuch a cool one! did you know pheromone..

fun fact #2 is suuuuuch a cool one! did you know pheromones give off immune status and mating compatibility?? human pheromones seem to act on a non-verbal circuit of sexual awareness, providing valuable information about mating and genetic desirability?!! pheromones work differently depending on your sex and sexual orientation. men, for example, appear to be able to sense ovulation via pheromones. in one study, lap dancers in a club in NY saw their tips spike on days they were ovulating and drop significantly during their periods.  in another study, men in relationships engaged in more guarding behavior, like calling, texting, or dropping by during ovulatory peaks, especially if the woman in the relationship was perceived to rank higher than they did in sexual attractiveness.  another study in a bar showed that males who smelled a t-shirt worn by an ovulating woman drank more than smelling a t-shirt worn by women in other points in their cycle. These studies suggest that men, whether or not, that men respond to covert cues of peak fertility. women, on the other hand, have a more critical interest in the outcome of mating. When represented with the choice of sweaty t-shirts that men ave slept in for several nights, women preferred t-shirts from men whose immune systems were significantly different from their own. I didn’t know that this is a big item on the list of things I’m looking for when I’m dating! The smells that triggered a positive response in women seems to be a marker for something called The major histocompatibility complex, or MHC. a set of genes that serves as a kind of catalog of pre-programmed immune responses. And these gene complex is present and active in the sweat glands to such a degree that a man’s odor can serve as an accurate genetic signature. As a result, women can smell enough to eliminate potential mates whose immune responses nearly duplicate their own. This strong reaction to scent is highly adaptive, good for evolution since it suggests that any childd one might have with her immune opposite would have enhanced resistance to a greater range of diseases. Ignoring these cues and you might have conception problems. Or, if you do conceive, risk transmitting a shared weakness in the form of a genetic disease. So, ladies! Pay attention to your response to your man’s smell! It could be your body telling you to run! ps - I wrote all of this while in a six-hour line to get a rapid test in NYC! SOS!