SCIENCE REPORT - Women and Sense of Smell

SCIENCE REPORT -February 21, 2002: Women and Sense of Smell

By George Grow
This is the VOA Special English SCIENCE REPORT.
Two new American studies are adding to our understanding of women and their sense of smell.

 

The first study showed that women appear to like the smell of men whose genes¹ are
similar to the women’s fathers. Scientists at the University of Chicago in Illinois
described their experiment in Nature Genetics² magazine.

The scientists asked a group of forty-nine women to smell several boxes. Each box
had a different smell. The women were asked which box they would choose if they
had to smell it all the time. They were not told what each box contained.

The ten boxes contained pieces of clothing called T-shirts. Some of the T-shirts contained a common smell of a
substance³ found around the house. Each of the other six T-shirts had been worn⁴ by a man for two days. The six
men who wore the T-shirts were told to avoid activities that produced strong smells.

The scientists tested the genes of the men and women in the study. They examined a special group of genes
called M-H-C genes.

The scientists found that the women did not choose smells of men with genes totally similar to their own.
However, women generally liked the smell of men whose M-H-C genes were similar to the genes that were
passed to the women from their fathers. There was no such relationship between a woman and genes from her
mother.

A second study found that women can improve their ability to recognize smells by smelling them repeatedly⁵.
Scientists at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, organized this study. They
reported the findings⁶ in Nature Neuroscience magazine.

The scientists found that men and women were equally⁷ good at identifying a number of smells at the start of
testing. However, the women became better at recognizing smells the more they were tested. This was not true
for men, boys, girls or older women. Scientists suggest that this ability may be linked to substances⁸ called
hormones⁹ produced by women.

Scientists say their findings may explain why women are more likely than men to be troubled by smells in the
environment.

This VOA Special English SCIENCE REPORT was written by George Grow.

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1 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

2 genetics   

n.遗传学

参考例句：

• He gave me a piece of advice on how to learn genetics.他就如何学好遗传学给我提出了一条建议。
• Population genetics owes its origin to Francis Galton.人体遗传学的创立应归功于弗朗西斯·高尔顿。

3 substance   

n.物质，实质，主旨

参考例句：

• There isn't anything of real substance in her book.她的书中没有任何真正实质性的内容。
• How long will the substance take to salt out?这种物质需要多长时间来盐析？

4 worn   

adj.用旧的，疲倦的；vbl.wear的过去分词

参考例句：

• The child's trousers have worn through at the knees.孩子裤子的膝盖处磨破了。
• My shoes are worn out.我的鞋子穿坏了。

5 repeatedly   

adv.重复地，再三地

参考例句：

• The loudspeakers blared the speech repeatedly.扬声器里反复大声地播送那篇演讲。
• He repeatedly beat his foot upon the floor.他反复用脚敲着地板。

6 findings   

n.发现物( finding的名词复数 )；调查（或研究）的结果；（陪审团的）裁决

参考例句：

• It behoves us to study these findings carefully. 我们理应认真研究这些发现。
• Their findings have been widely disseminated . 他们的研究成果已经广为传播。

7 equally   

adv.平等地；公平地

参考例句：

• Divide the cake into quarters and share it equally.把蛋糕分成四份，大家平均享用。
• The blue sky belongs equally to us all.蓝天为人所共有。

8 substances   

n.物质( substance的名词复数 )；实质；物体；[哲学]1)。 本质

参考例句：

• substances with high levels of toxicity 毒性大的物质
• Many highly corrosive substances are used in the nuclear industry. 核工业使用许多腐蚀性很强的物质。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 hormones   

n. 荷尔蒙，激素 名词hormone的复数形式

参考例句：

• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body. 这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。
• The adrenals produce a large per cent of a man's sex hormones. 肾上腺分泌人体的大部分性激素。