[HN Gopher] Chemical emitted by babies could make men more docil...
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       Chemical emitted by babies could make men more docile, women more
       aggressive
        
       Author : chriskanan
       Score  : 35 points
       Date   : 2021-12-12 21:47 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.science.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.science.org)
        
       | rp1 wrote:
       | I don't know if this counts as a pheromone, but babies definitely
       | emit _something_. As a recent father, I have had numerous people
       | remark on how wonderful babies smell after smelling my child. I
       | can't smell anything. People who can smell this particular smell
       | seem very perplexed that I can't smell it.
        
         | dr_dshiv wrote:
         | For serious? The top of my kids heads smelled intoxicating for
         | the first 6-9 months. There is still a special scent but not
         | quite the same. And I smell it on other babies, too. It's like
         | smelling breast milk, but emanating from the Fontainelle
        
           | BiteCode_dev wrote:
           | It would be funny if you could only smell it if it was your
           | biological child.
           | 
           | Although getting serious statistics on the matter is not
           | easy, the estimated numbers can be surprisingly high (e.g:
           | "One in 25 fathers is not biological parent": https://www.the
           | guardian.com/society/2005/aug/11/childrensser...)
           | 
           | If suddenly we discovered an easy way to give a hint you
           | should do a DNA test, it could do some serious noise.
        
           | blarg1 wrote:
           | Ha I see my brother doing that to his youngest, grabs him as
           | he's walking by and smells the top of his head, which really
           | annoys him :)
        
           | colechristensen wrote:
           | Taste and smell are definitely not consistent between people.
        
           | jessaustin wrote:
           | I am not a father, but I have experienced this same effect
           | from babies (related and unrelated) on numerous occasions.
        
         | belorn wrote:
         | If one do the same experiment as the article describe, called
         | the ultimatum game, and tell participants that further players
         | will know about what decision players makes (reputation),
         | administrating testosterone to players will result in more
         | generosity. However if you tell players that you are giving
         | them testosterone, regardless if it is true or not, it will
         | then make players less generous.
         | 
         | Studying human behavior is difficult. It is possible that only
         | women can smell the pheromone, or it can be culture. Its hard
         | to untangle unless one do blind studies.
        
         | Flankk wrote:
         | _Hey Bobby, does this kid smell strange to you?_
        
           | [deleted]
        
       | dopa42365 wrote:
       | Also found in rotten horse meat and insect cadavers and that's
       | enough scrolling pubmed for me today.
       | 
       | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34653803/
       | 
       | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34738202/
        
       | jessaustin wrote:
       | Could this or some other chemical play a role in postpartum
       | depression?
        
       | joshxyz wrote:
       | Is that why me mum slap my hands when teaching me abc's, eh?
        
       | nkingsy wrote:
       | This passes my person smell test (dad joke)
        
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       (page generated 2021-12-12 23:00 UTC)