pheromones

I wrote the other day about the effects of “chemosignals,” scents or odors from a newborn's scalp on aggression by their mothers and fathers.

Pheromones are air-borne signals transmitted between members of the same species.

Say you're a man in a committed, loving relationship and you spot a saucy minx making eyes at you. Turns out, you may not be terribly susceptible to her batting lashes if she's at apex of her fertility cycle – or so says science. 

The existence of human pheromones is hotly debated. Ask any woman who has lived in a college dorm and she is likely to tell you that they exist because the women synced their menstrual cycles when living together.

Pheromones have long been credited (or blamed) for our behavioral choices, most notably our choice of sexual partners.

Many animals make and secrete pheromones in order to control social behaviors, the m