http://timworstall.com/2008/02/11/todays-news-yesterday/ It is all obvious or trivial except... Thu, 24 May 2012 02:15:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://timworstall.com/2008/02/11/todays-news-yesterday/comment-page-1/#comment-7063 Philip Thomas Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:15:52 +0000 http://timworstall.com/2008/02/11/todays-news-yesterday/#comment-7063 Scientists have known about it for ages. A lot of mammals can do it and members of other vertebrate groups also show evidence of it. It's also a mechanism of identifying kin by comparing how differently they smell from you (self-matching). Human parents can identify their children by such means. Though as the recent example of siblings marrying showed, such kin recognition mechanisms are modulated by early life experience and so if that is disrupted so too is their efficacy. Scientists have known about it for ages. A lot of mammals can do it and members of other vertebrate groups also show evidence of it. It’s also a mechanism of identifying kin by comparing how differently they smell from you (self-matching). Human parents can identify their children by such means. Though as the recent example of siblings marrying showed, such kin recognition mechanisms are modulated by early life experience and so if that is disrupted so too is their efficacy.

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