M~mmm...

On the program Human Instincts an experiment was conducted to show that we are drawn to those members of the opposite sex who are most different from ourselves in order to ensure that our offspring carry the widest range of genes for better chance of survival. Six women were asked to sleep in a T-shirt for two consecutive nights. The tees then were vacuum-sealed in individual glass jars. A man was then to smell the tees and rank them in order of his fondness of their odor. DNA was extracted from each of the six women and the man prior to all this, and for the purpose of the experiment a set of six genes was picked out from each set of DNA for comparison. As it turns out, the woman whose odor the man found most pleasant is the one with the least number of genes matching to his. And the man ranked the other five tees in perfect order and found the odor of the woman who had most similar genes to him unbearable.

Now here's my problem. Being a regular subway rider, I come across a large number of "odorful” members of the opposite sex everyday. On average, I’d find myself in the presence of a different scent at every other stop of the subway train (a mixture of several different new scents every stop during rush hour traffic). From dead fish to burnt curry, the range of aroma is comparable to that in a fusion buffet. (Or, on a rainy day, the rotten leftovers of that same feast).

I know this is a phenomenon most severe under humid climates like in Hong Kong. The thing I don’t understand is how people can manage to start smelling like a bum on the street early in the morning not being a bum on the street. Are showers really that tedious a task for certain individuals?

Here's a pointer. With the aim to achieve standards of international culinary, a touch of Old Spice wouldn’t hurt.

Obviously I do not find any of these men letting out suffocating odor attractive. But if the theory in Human Instincts holds, doesn’t that mean these men whose odor I deem unbearable have genes much similar to mine?

The next time I find myself in the company of Pepe la Peu, I shall take a big sniff and try to indulge in what I hope to be dissimilarities between him and me.