Hexadecanal - Body odour smell effects in men and women

[ArabellaScott]

Found this fascinating:

'A chemical that is sometimes emitted from human skin, breath and faeces has no detectable smell, but it appears to influence people’s behaviour, with men becoming calmer and women becoming more aggressive.'

'“It’s below the threshold of conscious awareness, yet hexadecanal apparently influences the behaviour of males and females differently,” says de Groot. “These are really striking effects [that underline] the fact that just because we are not aware of it doesn’t mean it doesn’t strongly affect us.”'

www.newscientist.com/article/2298435-body-odour-chemical-makes-men-calmer-but-women-more-aggressive/

The original study is available here:

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abg1530

I couldn't find a reference to baby poo in perfume, allmy, although 'indole' is a perfume ingredient:

gizmodo.com/why-is-a-compound-that-smells-like-feces-put-in-perfume-1717903411

@ArabellaScott

Get men to change more nappies, is the moral of the story.

Absolutely!

And it casts the threads about farting and crapping in front of your DH/DP in a new light..

The smelling tears part was interesting too. Made me think of times in history when men were given or took women’s hankies as keepsakes.

So fascinating. Thanks for this thread Arabella. I’m going to need to read it 10 more times!

babies emit HEX from their head. This is expected to trigger aggression in women but block aggression in men, and both of these impacts are expected to increase baby survival.'

I found this incredibly sad (though unsurprising), that babies have had to evolve to decrease the risk of their fathers killing them.

@ArcheryAnnie

babies emit HEX from their head. This is expected to trigger aggression in women but block aggression in men, and both of these impacts are expected to increase baby survival.'

I found this incredibly sad (though unsurprising), that babies have had to evolve to decrease the risk of their fathers killing them.

When you put it like that...

It’s as likely to deter men who aren’t their fathers killing them, isn’t it?
In some species (I think eg lions) males kill cubs fathered by another male.

Yep, you and me baby we're nothing but mammals.

Actually, in context that's coming out wrong.