‘Pheromonal’ Communication

It was a long time ago when I had read a novel about “any colonies”. This was a log time ago but I couldn’t just forget about the marvels of the “natural world”. How do organisms apparently devoid of intelligence organize themselves in colonies, divide tasks, and follow the rigor and discipline which the ‘human world’ prides itself on. Over and above, they also have been known to engage in ‘human follies’ like wars. Dominant ant colonies have been known to take others over. There are ‘American’ ant colonies which are driven by access to and indeed exercise a great amount of control over available fuel resources.

I learnt that ants communicate through tiny traces of pheromones. Pheromone actually is the short form of phero-hormone. Its main component is (E,E)-8,10-dodecadien-1-ol, a primary alcohol containing a straight chain of 12 carbons and two conjugated double bonds. Other pheromones are hydrocarbons, epoxides, acetates or aldehydes. These molecules all vaguely resemble fatty acids, from which they are indeed biogenetically derived.

What are pheromones?

Pheromones are chemicals emitted by living organisms to send messages to individuals of the same species. The class most widely explored is the sex pheromone produced by female moths which are used to attract conspecific males for mating. Bombykol, the sex pheromone of the silkmoth, was first synthesized in 1959. Most pheromones consist of blends of two or more chemicals which need to be emitted at exactly the right proportions to be biologically active. More Information

The history of pheromonal studies

The study of pheromones does not have a long history. The first person who recognized the importance of smell was a French entomologist, Henri Fable (1823-1915). He found that male moths could detect a chemical that is emitted by female moths even if they were surrounded by other strong smells. The first scientific research about pheromones was done in 1959. Monmaney says those researchers collected some samples of chemicals that insects emit in order to communicate, and by the middle of the 1970s interest in human pheromones increased, and Russell showed the existence of those pheromone-like chemicals in his research.

The word "pheromone" first appeared in the 1950s from the Greek words "pherein" and "hormone," meaning "excitement carrier". Monmaney defines pheromones as "a substance that is produced by an organism and that elicits a specific and unlearned response in another member of the same species". Therefore, pheromones are used as intraspecific communication mediums by most animals and insects.

How important are pheromones as a method of communication?

For insects, pheromones are very important and have many roles. The following are some examples indicating the effects of pheromones. In bee societies, worker bees are all female and cannot reproduce. The reason for this phenomenon, Cowley and Springen say, is that worker bee sexual development is stopped by the queen bee’s pheromones. An article from a web site shows that in ant societies pheromones are used to alarm, attract, lay trails, groom other ants, help molting, exchange food (between worker ants and feeding larvae), recognize nestmates, control reproduction, and make territorial signals.

Furthermore, one well-known fact is that female moths emit pheromones to attract male moths. A certain kind of moth can detect pheromones at the distance of five kilometers by using their antennae. Each antenna has lots of sensory hair, and all of the hair is tuned to the female pheromones. Pheromones for insects are well known, synthesized, and used as behavior controlling chemicals to prevent harvests from being eaten by such insects. By using this method people can control insects to make them gather outside farms. This method is very efficient and harmless to other species and the environment.

OK! So it works in insects …. What about mammals?

In contrast to insects, the importance of pheromones decreases dramatically because mammals have more complicated and advanced ways to communicate, such as facial expressions, body gestures, and languages. Every non-human mammal emits pheromones. Non-human mammals have many special glands to secrete special pheromones outside their bodies, in order to mark their scents. They often mark their scents to send territorial signals or in order to attract other opposite sex members in the group. However, in order to detect pheromones, unlike insects, vertebrates do not have antennae, so they have developed another organ in their nasal cavity that is called the "vomeronasal organ (VNO)". This organ works as a "pheromone receptor," not as a smell detector. The VNO is more sensitive than olfaction; it can detect very small amounts of molecules.

What about Human Beings? Can we smell ‘pheromones’?

The prime question that remains -- Do human beings communicate by pheromones? How does one explain ‘chemistry’, ‘gut-feel’, ‘vibes’ or ‘instinct’? Is there some science to it after all? Is it possible to sniff Mr. or Ms. Right?

Human pheromones are a hot topic in research. They are odourless chemicals detected by an organ in the nose. Some scientists believe they could be the key to choosing a suitable lover.

Rats use the VNO to detect pheromones in the urine of other rats and use this extra sense to understand social relationships, identify the sex of fellow rats and find a mate.

In 1985, researchers at the University of Colorado found evidence that this organ also exists in most adult humans. So humans could also respond to pheromones.

Rats have different pheromones in their urine, depending on the make-up of their immune system. When rats choose a mate, they must avoid partners with an immune system too similar to their own, so that their babies can fight off a wider range of infections. As well as lurking in urine, pheromones are also found in sweat

Love is locked up in a sweaty T-Shirt

In 1995, Claus Wedekind of the University of Bern in Switzerland, asked a group of women to smell some unwashed T-shirts worn by different men. What he discovered was that women consistently preferred the smell of men whose immune systems were different from their own. This parallels what happens with rodents, who check-out how resistant their partners are to disease by sniffing their pheromones. So it seems we are also at the mercy of our lover's pheromones, just like rats.

My Daddy Strongest

At the University of Chicago, Dr Martha McClintock has shown in her own sweaty T-shirt study that what women want most is a man who smells similar to her father. Scientists suggest that a woman being attracted to her father's genes makes sense. A man with these genes would be similar enough that her offspring would get a tried and tested immune system. On the other hand, he would be different enough to ensure a wide range of genes for immunity. There seems to be a drive to reach a balance between reckless out-breeding and dangerous inbreeding.

Yeah! We have developed multiple uses for pheromones!!!!

Numerous uses have been ingeniously designed by human beings, some aping the natural world, some plain business acumen (attracting the opposite sex, make friends and influence people kind creams, organ enlargement lotions with or without money back guarantee, pest population control etc).

Links for further information on the subject

Pheromones: Links

1) Pheromones: The Smell of Beauty – Yoshihiro Kobayashi, Larry R. Fisher

2) Chemicals that cause excitement – Anne Bruce

3) Perfumery and the sixth sense – Clive Jennings-White

4) The Vomeronasal organ

5) Pheromones – Maureen Kyin

6) Something in the Air – The Naked Scientists

7) Sniffing out human pheromones – Rick Weiss

8) Pheromones, In Context – Etienne Benson

9) University of Wisconsin at River Falls

10) Howard Hughes Medical Institute

11) Pheromones – rcn.com

12) Pheoromones – web.sfn.org

13) Pheromones, Potential Participants in your sex life – CNN

14) The Human Pheromones – The Scent of Eros

15) About Pheromones – Cornell

16) Sniffing out Mr. or Ms. Right – BBC

17) Athena Institute, Pheromone powered enhancements, Looking to attract someone special?