American scientists proved that the smell of fear really exists, when frightened a person releases a special pheromone that can cause subconscious anxiety in others. The study on parachutists showed this signal affects brain areas linked to fear and can be detected before a person realizes fear. The Pentagon denies rumors of military use, and experts say using such a pheromone as a weapon is scientifically impossible.
American scientists have proven that the "smell of fear" is not the product of the imagination of untalented writers.It is widely known that when a person is frightened, the hormone adrenaline is released. It turns out that, along with it, a special pheromone is also secreted, capable of causing a herd-like sense of fear in people.
The studies were conducted on a group of parachutists, and the secretions from the subjects' armpits were used as the object of study. It was established that the "fear pheromone" released under stress affects a certain area of the brain in which emotions associated with fear are formed. Those around can subconsciously detect this smell even before the victim of fright realizes their own feelings.
The research work was overseen by a Pentagon research division. This fact immediately gave rise to a great many rumors, for example, that the purpose of the study was to isolate a fear pheromone that could be studied in combat against the enemy. Naturally, the American military department denies this information.
As Simon Wessely, a psychiatrist from the Royal Centre for Military Health Research, told the influential popular science magazine New Scientist, the use of a fear pheromone as a weapon is scientifically impossible. "You can create physical symptoms in people, but there is no guarantee that they will be frightened," he explained. Until now, most researchers believed that people cannot detect pheromones. The fact is that other mammals do this with the help of the so-called Jacobson's organ in the nose, whereas in humans this organ is not connected to the brain.