Sweaty t-shirts shouldn’t be a turn-off according to a new dating website. ScienceMatch.com promises to increase chances of better sex, fertility and lasting relationships with less risk of cheating. The bold claims are based on a Bern scientist’s odour attraction research. Claus Wedekind’s studies focused on genes that play an integral role in a part of the immune system known as the major histocompatibility complex (MHC).
Wedekind recruited female volunteers to smell three-day-old men’s t-shirts and rate the most attractive. After analysing the DNA of both the men and women he found a clear correlation between odour attractiveness and differences in MHC. All this science doesn’t come cheap though: the dating service cost clients $1,995 (SFr2,200) alone for the DNA analysis that checks immune system compatibility.
dating
Filed under: research, science, society | Tagged: dating, genetics, research, Schweiz, science, sex, Suisse, Swiss, Switzerland
Amusing post, I enjoyed reading it.
As for the idea itself…even if there is truth in the science, joining a sweat-scent based dating site does not sounds appealing at all. How will it work: the potential match will smell my scent, over the web, and decide based on that? And won’t my attractivness depend highly on what I ate that same day? So the day I ate chocolat, I’ll be prince charming (via scent). The day I ate extra garlic Pizza, on the other hand, will be a sad day for my DNA…
Anyway, amusing idea, but I don’t want to try it…
Nir