Sexual Pheromones: Myth or Reality?

Half a century after the discovery of pheromones in animals, scientists have yet to conclusively identify a single such chemical in humans. Yet the term is bandied about regularly in reference to people and the supposedly silent means by which they communicate.

Pheromones will improve your sex life, a common sales pitch goes.

For certain, animals use pheromones to communicate nonverbally, transmitting the chemical signals often through air. The purpose is often related to mating or defense of territory.

Peter Karlson and Martin Lüscher first proposed the word "pheromone" in 1959, referring to a chemical cocktail emitted by an animal and detected and responded to by other creatures of the same species. That same year, researchers reported the identification of the first pheromone (called bombykol) in silk moths.

Since then, such chemical equivalents of text messages have been reported in various animals, including some mammals, writes Tristram Wyatt of the University of Oxford in an essay published in the Jan. 15 issue of the journal Nature.

However, the hunt for a human pheromone has come up short.

http://www.livescience.com/health/090114-human-pheromones.html

Well, Pooch Dog can tell you all about scents and pheromones. And, believe me, Seraphina is all about scent and... you figure out the rest!

View the Prairie Pooch Hole blog here...