Now, a Kiss Isn’t Just a Kiss – NYTimes.com
By JAN HOFFMAN

Excerpt: “…the researchers have concluded that kissing may help people assess potential mates and then maintain those relationships.

“The repurposing of the behavior is very efficient,” said Rafael Wlodarski, a doctoral candidate and lead author of the study, published in Archives of Sexual Behavior.”

[url= http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/28...=10393101]My comment:[/url] In my 2010 presentation at the Annual Meeting of American Mensa, I placed kissing into the proper context of the human courtship sequence, where it can clearly be viewed along with other forms of communication with pheromones. This 5.5 minute video excerpt is from that presentation, which was based on my award-winning published work: The Mind’s Eyes: Human pheromones, neuroscience, and male sexual preferences. See also, our 1995/2002 book chapter # 12 from The Scent of Eros: Mysteries of Odor in Human Sexuality “A Kiss Isn’t Just a Kiss.”

I read that a suspected pheromone DHEAS is found in urine. Still others in saliva. What peculiar message do we send wearing a saliva or urine molecule on the skin? A saliva molecule would seem a late-stage courtship signal. I've seen the video. It's a good primer. We forget that some of these exotic pheromone products employ metabolites not necessarily found on skin. I wonder if we aren't actually doing a bit of sabotage wearing a urine, blood or saliva molecule on the skin as a general attraction product if it is actually a making out chemosignal. The metaphor is like raw androstenone described as walking around naked with an erection. Not always a safe for work signal. Not really safe at all, actually.

(10-30-2013 12:33 PM)PheroPhiend Wrote:  I read that a suspected pheromone DHEAS is found in urine. Still others in saliva. What peculiar message do we send wearing a saliva or urine molecule on the skin? A saliva molecule would seem a late-stage courtship signal. I've seen the video. It's a good primer. We forget that some of these exotic pheromone products employ metabolites not necessarily found on skin. I wonder if we aren't actually doing a bit of sabotage wearing a urine, blood or saliva molecule on the skin as a general attraction product if it is actually a making out chemosignal. The metaphor is like raw androstenone described as walking around naked with an erection. Not always a safe for work signal. Not really safe at all, actually.

No experimental evidence in humans suggests that androstenone is a pheromone. The primary metabolites of DHEA are androsterone (A) and etiocholanolone (E), which were used to differentiate heterosexual males from homosexual males in the early 70's.

With testosterone assays, the A/E ratio has since been used to detect 'doping' in Olympic athletes, which indicates to me that androsterone is a highly individualistic and somewhat species-specific (in primates) pheromonal signal of masculinity and reproductive fitness.

Androstenone should be compared in that context - if at all.