Suitable partners can literally sniff each other out, finding an optimal genetic other half using their noses by edgardo
On the day we each spit into separate test tubes, I don’t yet understand how a DNA test can offer evidence of compatibility, because I am only on page eight of Daniel M Davis’s book The Compatibility Gene. But here’s the gist of the idea: there are a small number of human genes � a tiny section of the short arm of chromosome six � that may play a role in determining how attractive you are to a potential mate.
And while the mechanism behind this phenomenon is poorly understood, that hasn’t stopped dating agencies from employing MHC typing as a matchmaking tool
The basis for this notion is the so-called smelly T-shirt experiment, first performed by a Swiss zoologist called Claus Wedekind in 1994. He analysed a particular bit of the DNA of a group of students, looking specifically at the major histocompatibility genes (MHC). The students were then split into 49 females and 44 males. The men were asked to wear plain cotton T-shirts for two nights while avoiding anything � alcohol, cologne etc � that might alter their natural odour.