When reaching for your best perfume or cologne, you might want to think twice.
Many people have heard that famous saying, “love is in the air.” This is used to indicate that people are falling in love when getting near each other, suggesting that there is an actual chemical in the air that is making people do this. It turns out that this is not too far from the actual truth.
Our bodies produce a natural scent, these are called pheromones. Most people hear of them in the animal kingdom as a way for an animal to get the attention of another of the opposite sex. Humans have a similar tactic to winning over the opposite sex.
In a study done by Discovery it was found that men could actually recognize the scent of a woman at an unconscious level, and the levels of testosterone in men were actually found to be higher when smelling the natural scent of a shirt that a woman had worn during ovulation, over a shirt that had been sprayed with perfume.
Some scientists believe our strongest link to memory in our brain is through scent; we can remember the way things smelled over how they felt, looked, etc. This could be another tactic by the brain, making you fall in love, because once you catch the scent of that other person’s pheromones, you can’t get it out of your head; you remember the scent too well to just let it go.
I found out a lot of information about this research and actually learned that there is a science to this theory: Osmology, the study of research about smells.
It might seem funny that this could actually be a thing, but if people are going as far to give it its own science, and its own research, then they might be onto something.
Now, the next time you head Uptown on a weekend, and you reach for your favorite perfume, or you best smelling cologne, think twice about it. You might just want to go with your natural scent. It could work wonders.
Adam Wondrely is a junior studying creative writing and journalism. Do you know any more about the science of Osmology? Email him at aw922910@ohiou.edu.
