Chemical messages that are transmitted by smell. Scientists have found them in every animal except for homo sapiens. The existence in the latter is strongly debated, I think, because people won't admit that we are ruled by our animal natures as well. Legacy reptilian brain. Think of DOS in Winblows.

endocrinology: A volatile hormone or behavior modifying agent. Normally used to describe sex attractants (for example bombesin for the moth Bombyx), but includes volatile aggression stimulating agents (e.g. isoamyl acetate in honey bees).

Source: CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary

The reason that some people smell nice.

The only thing that might be an indicator of pheromones in humans is a phenomenon that occurs among women:
When women are around each other for any length of time, their menstral cycles will start to coincide and, in time, will run on the same timeline. This is not just some freak coincidence that happened to me once, it has been proven time and time again all over the world. Within the past decade, some researchers have started debating whether the nature of this occurance is caused by pheromones, marking the first and only evidence of human pheromone interaction.
pheromone: an odorous substance or smell secreted by an organism that acts as a chemical messenger between members of the same or different species and serves as a foe repellent, territorial boundary or path marker, social heriarchy position indicator, child-parent bonding agent, or sexual lover/lover mate attractant. Pheromones may also regulate the reproductive ecology within a given species; an odoriferous substance that acts as a chemical messenger between individuals. By contrast, a hormone acts as a chemical messenger within the bloodstream of a single individual. In mammals, pheromones serve as foe repellents, boundary markers, child-parent attractants, and sex [lover-lover] attractants. See also hormone.

Dictionary of Sexology Project: Main Index

Pheromones are the primary mechanism for communication among insects. The word is derived from Greek, pherein, to carry and horman, to excite. Although released and detected in minute amounts, pheromones have profound biological effects in receptive organisms. The main function is triggering sexual attraction and stimulation, but some forms can signal danger or lead members of both sexes to food.

Pheromones are usually chemically simple compounds such as esters, alcohols, epoxides, aldehydes, ketones, ethers or even hydrocarbons. Two examples are muscalure and bombykol, the sex attractants of the housefly and silkworm moth, respectively. They typically have low molecular weight, low enough to be volatile but not so low as to disperse too rapidly. They are also highly specific, logical as species survival would not be helped with a molecule attracting members of the wrong species. Often this specificity is achieved through stereoisomerism, but some species use specific ratios of multiple pheromones to communicate a particular message.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.