We were connected by chemistry: scientists have proven that we choose friends by smell

People with similar body odor are more likely to become friends. It's not about romantic relationships. In the course of the study, Israeli scientists studied the smells of 20 same-sex couples of friends. It turned out that in most cases the odors were similar, reports Voice of America.

There is chemistry between them. This idiomatic expression is used to describe the compatibility of two people, romantic or platonic. Research by Israeli scientists from the Weitsmann Institute has proven that in such cases, chemistry does indeed take place.

Inbal Ravrebi, a neuroscientist, says: “When it comes to social interaction, the sense of smell works on a subconscious level. It is not something that can be recognized and explained. But it does have an impact on our communication. Of course, apart from a number of other factors: visual signals, personal qualities of a person.”

Scientists focused on the study of 20 pairs of friends. It is known that friends often have common views on life, and sometimes even external resemblance. But there is another less obvious factor - the similarity in smells.

“We asked a group of subjects to eliminate onions and garlic from their diet. And also for two nights, wear T-shirts, after taking a shower. Do not apply perfume or other means to the body so that the T-shirt absorbs only the smell of their body.”

These T-shirts were then placed in sealed plastic bags and frozen. Using the PEN3 electronic nose, as well as 25 volunteers who agreed to sniff the T-shirts, the scientists found that the smell of friends was more similar than the smell of random pairs of strangers.

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But the experiments didn't stop there. Scientists asked 66 pairs of strangers to play in the mirror, imitating each other's gestures for 2 minutes.

“During the game in the mirror, the volunteers had to be half a meter apart from each other in order to smell the partner. And try to coordinate the movement of the hands, as far as possible, while not saying a word. We then asked them to rate the quality of their social interactions on 13 dimensions. For example, how much they liked each other, whether they can become friends. “

A third of the couples, according to their answers in the idiomatic sense, had chemistry. The PEN3 I-Nose device later confirmed that real chemistry also played a role.

Scientists have found that based on smell, with a probability of 71%, it is possible to predict whether two people will like each other.

We struggle to explain the function of smell in communication. What's more, as Professor Ravreby points out, social taboos prevent us from sniffing a buddy the way mammals do. However, despite the secondary role assigned to the sense of smell, we found some of our friends by smell.