People can smell the fear

Feelings of fear or disgust spread from one person to another because we can feel their smell.

When we smell the sweat of a person
fear, we also feel the same feeling.

Most animals communicate with the same type of smell, but humans do not have the same ability. Scientists think that humanity has lost the ability to smell other sensations for a long time. To test this hypothesis, a team of Utrecht University experts in the Netherlands conducted an experiment. The researchers asked 10 men to watch horror movies and a video that caused disgust and took sweat from their armpits with soft sponges, Livescience reported.

The team then asked 36 women to perform a vision test. While the group of women examined their eyesight, experts placed sponges near them, but did not let them know.

The results showed that the women who smelled the sweat of the men watching horror movies were scared because their eyes were suddenly enlarged. Meanwhile, women who smell the "disgusting" sweat of men are frowning, seemingly frightened of something.

"This finding is completely contrary to a widely accepted assumption, according to which people can only communicate via language and eyes," Gun Semin said.

The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, shows that people can still communicate with each other like smells like animals. This is an extremely useful ability in crowded places.