THE CHEMISTRY OF LOVE

Pheremones are the airborne chemicals which create the same effect on a man or woman that sirens seducing ships onto deadly reefs or into unsafe waters.

A pheromone is the zephyr of love that attracts us, without us even sensing why to one another.

Penguins give off pheremones which help chicks recognize their dads among thousands of other penguins.   Pheremones affect other members of the same species.

The odorless chemicals drift through air until they're sniffed into an animal's nose where the vomeronasal organ (VNO), a supersensitive organ wired directly to the midbrain, registers the chemicals.

 "In the brain, pheromones trigger instinctive animal behavior and influence the endocrine [hormone-producing] glands," says Milos Novotny, director of the Institute for Pheromone Research at Indiana University. Scientists haven't figured out how pheromones work, but they've observed that chemicals make mating sparks fly in animals. Could they be the secret to human romance as well?

Novotny says women do produce pheromones in their armpits, but it hasn't been proven the chemicals attract males. So if chemistry isn't the key to romance, what is? For now, it's still a mystery ...

In spite of the scientific fact that the process is a mystery, in the last twelve or so months I have seen cologne advertisements that brag on about  the magic of pheremones in their scent, some libido balm that will incite even the most sleepy of seniors to jog around a cot, and more particularly, deodorants that have a man speeding through New York city with a department store clicker counting off people who fall for him immediately.

If pheremones are all we need to find love and recognize one another,why don’t we have them piped into air filtration systems, and other mass misting portals? We wouldn’t need names anymore. I would sniff my brother , automatically be attracted to the most specifically stimulating pheromone-bearer and always know what an unpleasant pheromone “feels” like if I am the recipient of those airborne valentines.