A delicious fruit smoothy. That’s how a variety of bacteria see your body’s many sweat glands — particularly in the armpits, according to YouTube science communicator SciShow. It’s these microscopic residents that give you your unique body odor.
Everyone has them, though no two odors are exactly alike. That’s because different microbes lead to different aromas.
The bacteria in your armpits often turn your sweat into sulfurous thioalcohol, which mimics the odor of rotten eggs. The microbes on your feet turn lactate, a compound formed when your body breaks down food, into diacetyl, creating a cheese-like acidic smell.
It’s your genes that dictate which specific microbes can thrive on your sweat glands, ultimately deciding your unique blend of smells.
These unique smells might play an important role in how people develop friendships, according to a 2022 study.
The researchers, led by Inbal Ravreby, a neuroscientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science, gathered 20 pairs of same-sex friends who reported clicking during their first encounter together.
Those friends then gave up scented soaps, garlic and anything else odorous for three days. They also wore cotton T-shirts to bed to capture their scents.
The shirts were analyzed by a team of “smellers” and an “electronic nose” device. When compared to strangers, the friends had more similar smell rankings. Scent similarity could even predict with 71% accuracy which pairs of strangers would get along.
“I think it’s a reminder for us humans to appreciate how much we’re similar to other mammals,” Ravreby told Scientific American. “(Taking) inspiration from other animals and the amazing mechanisms that they have can really help us understand what (causes) social bonding and what doesn’t.”
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