Do Strangers Smelt Like You?

3min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Researchers found that tea shirts of friends smelt more similar to each other than tea shirts of random strangers. Based on the odor similarity between these two people, you could predict how likely they would be to click. One researcher speculates that there could be an evolutionary advantage to having friends that smell like you.

The city remains Ukraine’s only provincial capital to be taken by Russian forces—can Ukraine overcome its shortages of manpower and firepower to retake the province? Mexico’s official missing-persons list has topped 100,000; our correspondent describes the skyrocketing total and piecemeal efforts to slow its rise. And research suggests that people choose their friends at least in part by smell. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer