When animals die they release an unpleasant smell created in part by putrescine, a chemical compound resulting from the breakdown of fatty acids in the putrefying tissue of dead bodies. New research suggests that we humans, just like animals, perceive and respond to this scent as threatening.
“These are the first results to show that a specific chemical compound (putrescine) can be processed as a threat signal,” wrote Dr. Arnaud Wisman, co-author and a psychologist at the University of Kent, and Dr. Ilan Shrira, co-author and a visiting assistant professor of psychology at Arkansas Tech University. “Thus far, nearly all the evidence for threat chemosignals has come from those that are transmitted by body sweat.”
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