I'm not a fan of fake smells. I like the smell of flat-leaf parsley, of walking off an airplane into the heat blast of a tropical country, and the spot where my man's jawbone meets his earlobe. But most chemical-based human-made scents induce headaches or nausea—like "mint" gum (ew), baby powder deodorant (gag) or colognes that purport to exude sporty masculinity (please, make it stop). There are some exceptions, but more often than not, scents that move me are fragrances that keep it real. Maybe I'm just picky, or maybe I'm extra-sensitive to pheromones.

Pheromones, as you may or may not know, are hormonal signals used to provoke members of the same species. Bug pheromones are the most well-documented. Our many-legged friends definitely use hormone perfumes to tell each other to keep out, signal their readiness for battle, or—most relevant here—indicate a desire to get it on. Mice also use the handy chemicals when deciding whether to engage in love or war: both Mickey and Minnie take advantage of pheromone-infused pee to let each other know when it's baby-making time (except they totally don't, because they are Disney characters, and also because they aren't married). But although other mammals (like cats, dogs and elephants) are documented pheromone addicts, researchers are divided on whether human beings emit the special hormones.

The debate mostly revolves around a tiny thingy called the vomeronasal organ, which is located around the mouth or nose in pheromone-sensing animals from snakes to lions. Many humans have a miniscule VMO, and it often seems to have lost its neural pathway to the brain. Still, there are many indications that humans do have pheromone sensors. Any girl who's been joined-at-the-hip with her best bud knows that women who spend a lot of time together often synchronize menstrual cycles, and over her decades of research, psychologist Martha McClintock keeps pinning this on pheromones. Tiny newborn babies seem to sense their mothers by the smell of their clothing, and straights and homos have wildly variant reactions to the smell of each sex's urine and sweat (and don't I wish I was a part of that study, yum). And, of course, there's that heady, unpredictable emotion—lust—and the unexplainable draw we have to certain other bodies (whether or not they fit the mating criteria we've laid out in our heads). For me, human pheromones are a no-brainer.

With that, I leave you this photo, a random gift from the gods of the internets. A Wikipedia shot of an Israeli dance club, the caption reads "Researchers discovered that women adjust their menstrual cycles when exposed to the scent of a male underarm." Uhhhh, maybe, but these two should still get a room. Though the honey in the photo seems to be enjoying his aroma, here's a tip: no matter how man-tastic your testosteroney pheromones, taking your shirt off at da club is always a fail.