It wasn't my fault -- it was pheromones! I swear!

This week's topic in my anatomy classes at Santa Monica College and West LA College was skin, and that's where our sweat glands reside. Of the two types of sweat glands, the ones called apocrine add fats and proteins to the basic sweat recipe, and when these fats and proteins are decomposed by the bacteria that normally live on our skin, well, they stink up the place. Apocrine sweat glands are located in the axilla (armpits), anal region, and genital region; they blossom during puberty, and they give each person his or her own unique, let's say, musky essence. Sounds pretty gross on paper.

But in the air, floating across a crowded room, it's a different story. The pheromone molecules themselves actually don't have that pungent post-workout Pepe le Pew quality; they're much more...subtle. And there is still ongoing research about exactly how those molecules are taken into the brain; it hasn't been established whether or not the mechanism is the same as sniffing, let's say, that Ocean Cinnamon Linen Breeze scented   deodorant you just swiped on to cover up said questionable odors ;)
                                    
But pheromones are released by those apocrine glands. And they're sending out chemical signals about each person's immunologic make-up.

Every person, depending on what they inherited from his or her parents, has the tendency to be good at defending themselves against certain bacteria, viruses, etc. This is different and unique for each individual. And what you are good at is reflected in certain cell membrane markers that identify your cells as "self." And all of this is reflected in your chemical complement of pheromones. So your pheromones act as a signal, telling others what you are particularly good at fighting off.

So if one person who is good at fighting off "A" set of invaders mates with a person who is similarly good at fighting off "A" set of invaders, well, they could produce offspring that are really good at fighting off "A" set of invaders -- but are rather bad at fighting off "B" set of invaders. But, if one person who is good at fighting off "A" invaders mates with someone who is good at fighting off "B"invaders, they could potentially produce a super-baby who is good at fighting off both "A" and "B" invaders. In the Darwinian sense, that's the stronger baby, once it is exposed to all of those "A" and "B" invaders.

Getting back to that crowded room, the person that we have that undeniable, unexplanable animal attraction to is probably the person whose pheromones tell our system, "Hey, babe, I'm you're immunological opposite, and opposites attract. Let's do it."

 Of course, it never seems to fail that that person, once you get to know him or her, is the one that your frontal lobe in your brain tells you is baaaaad for you, has too much baggage, will be very complicated, and is basically going to ruin the delicate balance that is your life. If that logical, practical side of yourself wins the battle, OK, you pass up on the... opportunity. But if that animal response to those dang pheromones wins out and life does get complicated with Mr. Bad Boy or Ms. Naughty Girl -- well, now you can say, "Hey, it's not my fault! It's those pheromones! I swear!"