Sex and the Human Nose

Seems like an unusual combination, but does the nose know how to sense love?

Researchers in Salt Lake City may have discovered an organ within the nose the can sense chemical signals called pheromones. Pheromones are chemical messengers sent by one member of a species to another and capable of changing the behavior or internal state of the receiver. Although pheromones are found mostly in insects and animals, humans may possess them also.

Dr. David Berliner, a pheromone researcher, discovered human pheromones over 50 years ago from dead skin cells. Dr. Larry Stensaas, anatomist at the University of Utah School of Medicine, found a pheromone sensing organ called the vomeronasal organ, according to a Sept. 7, 1993 article in the New York Times. This organ exists in reptiles and mammals, but its believed to be a vestigial organ in humans, said former San Antonio College anatomy professor David Smith. Smith said the smell sense is the most ancient of the senses and is tied into the brain’s limbic system, which controls emotions and behavior. So, those who find themselves inexplicably attracted to someone may literally find the answer right under his or her nose.

©2016 Martin Malacara

North American Jaguar

According to LiveScience.com, the once common jaguar has since become a rare sight due to hunting and habitat fragmentation. Jaguars (Panthera onca) once ranged from southern South America to the southern United States. By the late 1900s, none were thought to exist north of Mexico, but two independent sightings in 1996 confirmed jaguars still reached as far north as Arizona and New Mexico. The species has been protected outside of the United States under the Endangered Species Act since 1973. That protection was extended to jaguars in the United States in 1997, the year after their presence here was confirmed. A most recent sighting occurred in 2012 when University of Arizona research cameras snapped photos of one in Arizona’s Santa Rita Mountains, according to the Arizona Daily Star.

Jaguar at the San Antonio Zoo (Malacara photo)