Following Our Noses

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The phenomenon intrigued McClintock, and she and co-researcher Kathleen Stern recently revisited it, hoping not just to observe ovulation but manipulate it. They recruited a group of 29 women and asked nine of them to wear pads under their arms for several hours, either before ovulation or just after. When the pads were wiped under the noses of the other women, the results were remarkable. Pre-ovulation pads shortened menstrual cycles by as many as 14 days in 68% of the women. When exposed to ovulation-phase pads, a different 68% experienced cycles that were as many as 12 days longer. Clearly, something was bringing the group into synch.

Among other scientists, the reaction to the study has been mostly positive--but questions remain. Even if human pheromones exist, it's not clear how the body processes them. Mammals and reptiles detect pheromones with a tiny nasal cavity called a vomeronasal organ, or VNO. Anatomists don't think humans have a VNO and aren't sure we would need one to perceive pheromones. Though a few researchers think they've found telltale pits just inside the nostrils, these may do nothing at all.

McClintock, meanwhile, is pushing ahead. Pheromone treatments designed to regulate ovulation, she says, could serve as fertility enhancers for couples who want to conceive and as contraceptives for those who don't. Other researchers think mood-altering pheromones could alleviate depression and stress. Still others think the chemicals might even control prostate activity in men, reducing the risk of cancer. New insights into how the body works, it seems, aren't right under our noses, but inside them.

--Reported by David Bjerklie/New York