Friday, January 16th, 2009

50 Years of Pheromones

Bees use pheromones to communicate -- do humans? Photo by Flickr user d70focus.

Fifty years ago this month, the word 'pheromones' was first used in the scientific literature to describe the chemicals used to communicate between individuals of the same species. In this segment, we'll take a look at the field of pheromone research, from Peter Karlson and Martin Lüscher first proposing the term 'pheromones' in 1959, to current investigations into whether pheromones play a role in humans.

Guests

Tristram Wyatt
Author of "Pheromones and Animal Behavior: Communication by Smell and Taste"
Senior researcher in the Department of Zoology
University of Oxford
Oxford, England

Related Links

• Sexual Pheromones: Myth or Reality?
• The Pherobase: Database of Insect Pheromones and Semiochemicals

Segment produced by:Christopher Intagliata

Friday, January 16th, 2009

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