Men Smell: Lab Rodents Stress Out with Whiff of Male Aroma

It's certainly no scientific surprise. Men smell.

However, it might come as a bit of a shock that to some mammals, male aroma can be--well--painful. In fact, a recent study conducted by researchers from McGill University in Canada showed that when mice came in contact with a petri dish of male smell, they experienced low levels of stress and pain. In the presence of female odor, on the other hand, this was not the case.

"This was something that people had sort of whispered about at (scientific) meetings for years, but as far as we can tell, no one ever tried to investigate whether it was true," said lead study author Jeffrey Mogil, via The Verge. "And to our great surprise it was true, but only half-true because it was only male experimenters and not female experimenters (that affected the mice.)"

The mice in the study showed increased body temperature and the higher levels of the stress hormone corticosterone when around the odors.

Findings also showed that cats, dogs and even guinea pigs were stressed out around these scents. 

Researchers believe that this may be due to an increased level of testosterone that triggers fear in certain creatures. However, further studies are needed in order to further determine the validity of these results.

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Nature Methods.