A Curious Study on Gender, Touching One's Face and Subconscious Sniffing

According to a study carried out at the Weizmann Institute of Science, people shake hands to smell each other. Subjects were filmed to see how often they touched their own faces after shaking hands. Results showed that face-touching with the right hand increased by more than 100% after a handshake with a person of the same gender (shaking hands with someone of the opposite sex increased the likelihood to smell the left hand). 

In addition, the people observed did not just touch their faces but sniffed their hands ... subconsciously since sniffing openly is considered a taboo ... and, according to the researchers, to pick up chemical signals and find out more about the people around them (via and via).

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photograph by Vivian Maier via