Our DNA determines our preference in perfumes. Previous research found the MCH (major histocompatability complex) genes are related to being sexually attracted to someone else’s scent. In a study published in the International Journal of Cosmetic Science, 116 volunteers – male and female – were asked to smell 10 scents commonly found in perfumes including rose, cinnamon, cedar and moss. Although they smelled them in different concentrations and settings, the volunteers’ previously tested variations in MCH genes correlated with the perfumes they liked best. I’m guessing it won’t be long before a perfume manufacturer markets a line of perfumes called “Geneius”.
Talking about an event helps us remember it. In a study published in the journal Child Development, 46 children ages 27-51 months played with a toy for 2 days. On day 3 the children were asked if they remembered the toy and how to use it. Six years later they were shown a medal they’d received for their participation and asked if they remembered why they got it. Twenty percent remembered. They were the children who had talked more about the toy after the study. Talking about something shortly after it happens helps memory develop – unless the researchers are “toying” with us.
Birds are singing differently. According to research published in the journal Behavioral Ecology, city noise pollution is causing birds with low-pitched songs – like gray catbirds and robins – to sing at a higher pitch. Birds with high-pitched songs – like Northern cardinals – are singing at a lower pitch because buildings absorb and refract their songs. Bird song – like human speech – is learned. Science has already discovered birds hear subtle differences in their songs when choosing a mate. Because city and country birds of the same species will have different songs, “birds of a feather may no longer fly together”.
When trees branch, the smaller branches have an exact mathematical relationship to the branch they came from. Leonardo DaVinci knew that in the 1500’s. In 2011 a French physicist stated “Leonardo’s rule” mathematically. The sum of the surface areas of the two daughter branches is equal to the surface area of the mother branch. According to the French physicist, if you wanted to design a tree that was best able to withstand high winds, it would branch according to Leonardo’s rule. However, trees seem to have figured that out on their own. That information is obviously part of the “tree of knowledge”.
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