Commentary

Human pheromones

Biologists have long known that substances called pheromones influence sexual behavior in animals, but what of their effect in the human animal?

Pheromones are chemicals released from one animal that evoke a change in the behavior or hormone system of another animal. Scientists once regarded humans as immune to such influence. It's not that they saw such primitive mechanisms as beneath our dignity — rather, there was a scientific basis for their skepticism.