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Sexual chemicals affect how we identify an androgynous figure. Women and men can sniff out the opposite sex via odorless pheromones, a new study suggests. The discovery adds another piece to the growing body of evidence that humans, much like the rest of the animal kingdom, know more from their noses than previously thought. "We know that for animals, chemosignals are actually the most used signals to communicate, whereas with humans, we think chemosensation is not really used," said study leader Wen Zhou, a psychologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. "But based on our experiences, they are...

LONDON: The smell of fear really does exist, according to a new study, which also suggests that being terrified is infectious. The study, conducted by Dr Bettina Pause and colleagues at the University of Dusseldorf in Germany, suggests that people subconsciously detect whether others are scared by picking up chemicals they release from their bodies. Researchers believe the signals can be contagious and can spread around a group. For the study, researchers put cotton pads under the armpits of 49 student volunteers before they were due to start a university exam, reports the Telegraph. Pause and colleagues also collected sweat...

Will someone, anyone, tell me what the story is with people, especially men, wearing toxic levels of cologne.