THE SECRET OF PHEROMONES AND THEIR CONNECTION WITH SEX
Date: 2023-06-30 Author: Karina Ziganova Categories: BLOG 18+
What is pheromone
Animals, plants, and even bacteria produce pheromones. These precise cocktails of chemical compounds elicit all sorts of reactions in other members of the same species – not all sexual. The message can be competitive for territory, as in lemurs, or collaborative, as in ants, which leave traces to the nearest food source for their fellows
The term "pheromone" was coined in 1959 with the discovery of bombicol, a strong aphrodisiac that is secreted by female silk moths and acts for miles. Male silk moths are extremely sensitive to this pheromone, and it only takes a few molecules that reach it to make it fly miles to the female.
Pheromones and people
People do not have such radical things, but the effect of pheromones is a fact. The first steps in the study of human pheromones focus on odors secreted by glands known to us, such as the armpits. Some of the first evidence of pheromones comes from women who report that after living together for a long period of time (such as in a university dormitory), they discovered a synchronized menstrual cycle at some point.
In nature, there are several types of pheromones. Those that cause gradual psychological changes are called primers. Those that elicit a behavioral response, such as a love-stunned silk moth, are called "repeaters." In humans, the strongest relic pheromone is the one that strikes newborn babies, who are guided by where the mother's breast is by smell. It's completely instinctive.
The nose knows
How do we actually capture pheromones? Attraction between the sexes – whether expressed in favor of contact or pure sexual desire – is carried out thanks to pheromones. They are an odorless and tasteless secretion of the body that is captured by the vomeronasal organ (BNO) located in the nose and thus affects the subconscious mind of a potential partner.
However, recent studies have shown that other organs can receive signals from the pheromone network. The most plausible theory is a possible pheromone nerve, known as cranial nerve 0 or terminal nerve. Originally discovered in sharks in 1878 and in humans in 1913, this pair of nerves begins in the nose and enters directly into the brain in front of the umbilical nerve 1, the olfactory nerve. An animal study shows an important sexual role in relation to the pheromones that pass through it. Hamsters with distant terminal nerves cannot mate, and an electrical impulse conducted on these nerves in fish causes ejaculation.
In humans, the terminal nerve has a function that allows certain hormones to migrate during development in the womb.These hormones are key to people's development during puberty. Research is still ongoing to show that in humans, as in animals, the terminal nerve also picks up pheromone signals.
