Something's in the air!

*Sniff sniff*... lol Did you smell that? What hast thou smelleth? Oh well, I'm just being lame about starting this blog as 'chemistry' and 'scents' have been a discussion between my beau and I recently. Needless to say that the power of smell is undeniable when two persons are attracted to each other! Why is that? Well, it's because the nose knows better than our brains at times! We humans are not only influenced by nice aromas, fragrances and perfumes, but also by airborne chemicals undetectable as odors, called pheromones.

Anyway, smell acts as catalysts in a relationship or between two persons (at least in my case). Check out what I've found as a definition to pheromones while I was having fun with the search engine: Pheromones are naturally occurring chemicals that send out signals to the opposite sex (or the same sex) that trigger power sexual response. The word, 'pheromone' is a combination of two words, with the first part taken from the Greek word 'pherein' (Yeah, Greeks again!), and hormones pheromones mean 'to transfer' and 'hormon', means “to excite�.
What are them pheromones, anyway? They are actually odorless, airborne chemical signals that are released by an individual into the environment. Although pheromones have been shown to exist in virtually all species of insects and mammals, they also control the behavior of humans, acting as sexual attractants. So, it's secretion by humans is believed to dramatically increase both desirability and sexual attractiveness in both men and women. So, human pheromones affect us more than most people can imagine. Our knowledge of visual input, and of how vision might influence our sexual behavior, pales by comparison. During this decade, it is predictable that many more people will learn that our sexual behavior is driven in the same manner as it is in all mammals: directly via olfaction and pheromones, and only indirectly by visual input. This knowledge will help both to predict/explain behaviors, and even help to resolve problematic behaviors. Confused? Well, read on if you've come this far on this blog!

With it's specific function in transmitting social signals, pheromones sneaks up on ya and goes beyond your mental processes, as it draws you and your partner to each other like moths to a flame. Even in the course of friendships, you would enjoy spending more time with someone that smells good rather than someone that reeks. I truly don't remember having a close friend that smells offensive. Makes me sound like a bloody snoot, aye? A new gobbledegook for ya - 'smellism' which is not half as bad as racism.

Anyway, just to elaborate more on pheromones, researchers at the University of Chicago say they have the first proof that humans produce and react to pheromones in which we laymen refer to our attractions to the opposite sex (or even the same sex) as 'chemistry' between with each other. In findings published in the journal Nature, they claim they found that female ovulation can be regulated -- made longer or shorter -- when pheromones are involved. Kind of interesting, aye? Though there are two pheromones -- one that makes ovulation more likely and the other that suppresses it and makes it less likely,� said Martha McClintock of the University of Chicago. So, if you find yourself feeling attracted to someone, but you don't know why, blame it on their scent! Or, if you see someone you are attracted to, but when you meet them, the attraction is gone, again, it might be pheromones at work again (a rejection of scents!) lol

So, when we actually 'smell' each other, and say "I like your scent", it actually means that 'we' DETECTED and like each other's pheromones without really realising it! It's all in the 'science of love', as these 'chemicals' affect the physiology or behavior of other members of the same species. In the market place, we even have perfume factories nose-diving into researching and imitating various scents that are said to be pheromone enhanced, bottled and up on the shelves in malls! I am a real sucker to perfumes, and the sense of 'good' smell have always turned me on more than what massages my eye-balls (most of the time, anyway). In fact, pheromones and olfaction are more important to the development of human sexuality than are visual stimuli. The subtle influences of smell over our behaviour are shown by the vast amounts we spend each year on perfumes, fragrances and flavourings - or is it just clever marketing from them folks out there?

So, all ye lasses and lads out there, wonder why you always want to smell good? You are unconsciously wanting to be attractive. True enough, there's always something in the air when you find yourself attracted to someone! Excuse me now, I'm going to take a good whiff of my room and smell that pillow that my beau laid his head on.