Have you been invited to a pheromone party yet? The singles get-togethers — a recent hit in LA and New York — involve making a blind love connection by smelling slept-in T-shirts provided by other partygoers of the opposite sex. Attendees pick a person to approach based on the appeal of their scent, a premise based on scientific studies suggesting that we’re more drawn to the smell of genetically dissimilar mates. How much stock can we put in this? “They call it love at first sight, not love at first smell for a reason,” said Rutgers University anthropologist Helen Fisher. “I don’t think smell draws you to another person from across a crowded room but when you do fall in love with them, their smell — and everything else about them — can be an aphrodisiac.” We tend to be attracted to someone who has our same level of looks, similar sense of humor, and shared religious, educational, and socioeconomic background. In other words, we’re usually drawn to those similar to ourselves.

FullOfBlusterJones wrote: Darwin must be turning in his grave. We evolved backward.

ashmama wrote: I wonder what couples who meet this way will say to their kids in the future: “Well, the moment I smelled his armpits, I knew he was my soulmate.”