Smelly or Geeky?

I had a question this morning. So, like everyone under the age of 40-ish, I just typed my entire question into Google. Of course I got an answer, because I am not the first person to ask the question "why does sweat smell?"

Okay, the obvious answer is bacteria. But, here are a few things you probably didn't know about sweat (or smell)...

• Everyone has a unique odor that is noticed by everyone else (subconsciously usually). Strong attraction takes place when the olfactory senses know that another person has a "histocompatibility complex" or a different immune system that is compatible. This is part of "survival of the fittest" because the strong attraction might generally lead to children which will have a stronger immune system.
• Sweat contains steroid compounds. There are 16-ish elements and depending on which one is the strongest, people smell differently. The two that I read about produce either musky or urine-y smells.
• Diabetic people that are out-of-whack smell like acetone.
• Experts can smell lung cancer on the breath of patients.
• Trained dogs can sniff out bladder cancer.
• If your sweat smells like ammonia after exercising, it is due to a lack of carbohydrates. The body has to break down amino acids instead of carbs for energy which strips out nitrogen and produces urea. If the kidneys can't handle the load, the nitrogen comes out your skin and smells like ammonia.

In other news, the economy is down so much that the Super Bowl will be effected. It will probably not sell out (tickets are currently at a 'low' $1400). Playboy is not hosting their annual party and ads are not selling out. The price for putting an ad up during the Super Bowl has gone down but the spots that are filled are also down.

Also, retired football players are dying and their brains are being studied by researchers. Apparently repeated concussions actually damage the entire brain. It's called chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Click here to read more.

In a new study, most Americans want to move. Among other things, it found that most Republicans would like to live in Phoenix, while most Democrats chose San Francisco. Notice, both those places have warm weather!