Post #46,299
7/21/02 4:18:44 PM
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It is true
First observed back in the 70's IIRC. It was rejected out of hand originally, but has become accepted since. It is only in the last few years that it has been [link|http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/health-science/html98/altpits_031298.html|confirmed] to be pheromones. The best possible explanation that I have heard put forward is that a group of people in the wild are at increased risk if any woman present is on her period. (This is true! Women should not hike in bear country or swim near sharks while bleeding.) So having the women tend to synchronize minimizes that exposure.
Bill Oxley is the only person, male or female, who I have heard claim that he can smell it though.
The other aspect of human behaviour that pheromones are believed to affect is attraction. Again, women are the ones affected. In this case they are attracted to men whose sweat indicates that they have dissimilar immune systems. The win here is that you want to have children whose immune systems will handle the broadest range of possible threats you can find. See [link|http://www.macalester.edu/~psych/whathap/UBNRP/Smell/attraction.html|here] for a list of some relevant research articles. In fact accelerated adaption to new diseases is one of the biggest benefits of sexual reproduction, and it human adaption to new diseases has been demonstrated to happen in a periods of centuries.
(Sometimes I have to ask myself why I know this kind of stuff...)
Cheers,
Ben
"... I couldn't see how anyone could be educated by this self-propagating system in which people pass exams, teach others to pass exams, but nobody knows anything."
--Richard Feynman
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Post #46,309
7/21/02 7:35:39 PM
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While 'we' were rejecting such theories
most any competent 'Witch Doctor' (as we are fond of pejoratively labelling the shaman) knew it cold, for centuries. Current ones know a lot of other stuff too, though they lack the vocabulary and Boolean logic of Big Corporate Science: so their er paradigms remain mostly unsought as PhD fodder. Grant, advancement fodder.
Well, not entirely.. as we all see the rainforests disappearing through Biz-style commerce + inevitable greed + unchecked population growth; as we strongly *suspect* that this may be a Horrendously Bad Thing:
there are indeed some researchers beginning to ask and actually Listen attentively.. postponing the lecture about "how everything works".. until the wrap-up. (A couple appear even to have learned to just Shut Up and Listen, but it is really *hard*, given their training.)
Of course though: the 'interest' is solely about Intere$t of pharm-chem to patent YAN Winner for symptom treatment - not ever is it to explore the actual paradigm and the results that has produced in these primitive cultures, over centuries. Pharm-chem's rainforest interest is not about "what else might be in process of disappearing forever?" - it is about extirpating a few Winners to apply the same-old way we find so profitable.
Hubris kills. And Western hubris is Numero Uno by design.
Ashton
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Post #46,324
7/22/02 12:38:35 AM
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Re: why you know this kind of stuff
Any chance your spouse is a factor? :)
Alex
"Television: chewing gum for the eyes." -- Frank Lloyd Wright
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Post #46,336
7/22/02 4:56:29 AM
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Hmmm...
She isn't into evolution theory very much, while I tend to read up on it every so often. So normally you would be wrong.
But in this case, she is the one that I first heard both the facts about synchronizing periods and the risks of hiking while on a period from. (Both of which I got ample confirmation of when I checked up on.)
So..yeah. :-)
Cheers,
Ben
"... I couldn't see how anyone could be educated by this self-propagating system in which people pass exams, teach others to pass exams, but nobody knows anything."
--Richard Feynman
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Post #46,360
7/22/02 9:50:38 AM
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I doubt that, dont you remember the adolecent rhyme?
"when she smells and dont feel well " :) For those with SO's that are female, see if sniffing close to her skin during the 1st and second day of menses doesnt produce a odor that is "different" than other times. Also stay out of a barn where stallions are if you menstruating. They most certainly smell it.
thanx,
bill
."Once, in the wilds of Afghanistan, I had to subsist on food and water for several weeks." W.C. Fields
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Post #46,394
7/22/02 1:27:02 PM
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La la la la la...
Allow me to fill in some more of those lyrics.
You can tell
By the smell
That she isn't feeling well
When the end of the month rolls along
(well, my political correctness is shot to hell now)
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Post #46,369
7/22/02 10:52:53 AM
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Saw that on TLC a few months back
There was a show that did a test concerning smelling t-shirts, and choosing partners at a party.
I mentioned some of the other things from that show to you and a few others on II, if you recall.
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #46,376
7/22/02 11:32:50 AM
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question?
"I mentioned some of the other things from that show to you and a few others on II, "
whats a II ?
thanx,
bill
."Once, in the wilds of Afghanistan, I had to subsist on food and water for several weeks." W.C. Fields
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Post #46,391
7/22/02 1:11:59 PM
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Re: question?
IWETHEY Interactive
Currently down due to firewall port issues, but usually on the telnet port of this machine.
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #46,420
7/22/02 6:55:23 PM
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You mentioned it...
But you didn't give any details, and you didn't ask me whether I already knew it. :-)
BTW why don't they make II available on a different port? Should be easy, no?
Cheers,
Ben
"... I couldn't see how anyone could be educated by this self-propagating system in which people pass exams, teach others to pass exams, but nobody knows anything."
--Richard Feynman
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