Discover four fun facts about sweat
Discover four fun facts about sweat
Scientific facts about sweat.
© American Chemical Society (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING] SOPHIA CAI: Hey, it's 2015. And that means New Year's resolutions to get fit. But getting fit means working out. And working out means sweating. Stick around to learn four fun facts about sweat and to help me postpone my sweaty workout for a couple more minutes.
Hey, everyone, Sophia here. Ready for some sweat science? Here we go. Fact number one, sweat doesn't smell. But you know what does? Grimy bacteria and other microbes that love warm, moist, dark places. They feed off of sweat and generate tran3-methyl-2-hexenoic acid, which causes BO.
Deodorants combat the smell with antiseptic ingredients that kill or disable bacteria. Antiperspirants, on the other hand, prevent sweat in the first place, typically with aluminum salts that block your sweat pores.
Two, some people don't even need deodorant. Researchers think it's because they have a faulty version of what's called a transporter protein. When this protein doesn't work properly, sweat glands don't pump out the molecules that odor causing bacteria like to feast on. No bacteria buffet, no smell. About 2% of Europeans and a majority of people in China, Japan, and Korea have two copies of the specific recessive gene that encodes this faulty transporter protein.
Three, not everyone thinks sweaty dudes reek. Some people think male body odor smells sweet or vanilla-like. Seriously, what? And some people don't smell anything at all. This is because genetic differences make us perceive the smell of the steroid androstenone, differently. Androstenone is a derivative of testosterone that can be found in sweat.
I'm taking the controversial stance that sweaty dudes smell gross. That means I have two mutations that impair OR7D4, an odorant receptor that responds to androstenone. Thanks, science.
Four, scientists produce pseudo-sweat by the bucket load. Ew. This isn't post-workout apocrine sweat. Eccrine sweat forms in your hands or feet when you're nervous about something like, say, talking in front of a camera.
And scientists can reproduce it in the lab. Why the need for fake sweat? Well, forensic scientists use it as a control when testing for fingerprints. And credit card companies use it to make sure your sweaty hands don't rub off the magnetic strips.
There more than 400 proteins in human perspiration. But a company that makes the fake stuff, Sweat Check, mimics sweat using eight minerals, three metabolites, and 20 amino acids.
Hey, everyone, Sophia here. Ready for some sweat science? Here we go. Fact number one, sweat doesn't smell. But you know what does? Grimy bacteria and other microbes that love warm, moist, dark places. They feed off of sweat and generate tran3-methyl-2-hexenoic acid, which causes BO.
Deodorants combat the smell with antiseptic ingredients that kill or disable bacteria. Antiperspirants, on the other hand, prevent sweat in the first place, typically with aluminum salts that block your sweat pores.
Two, some people don't even need deodorant. Researchers think it's because they have a faulty version of what's called a transporter protein. When this protein doesn't work properly, sweat glands don't pump out the molecules that odor causing bacteria like to feast on. No bacteria buffet, no smell. About 2% of Europeans and a majority of people in China, Japan, and Korea have two copies of the specific recessive gene that encodes this faulty transporter protein.
Three, not everyone thinks sweaty dudes reek. Some people think male body odor smells sweet or vanilla-like. Seriously, what? And some people don't smell anything at all. This is because genetic differences make us perceive the smell of the steroid androstenone, differently. Androstenone is a derivative of testosterone that can be found in sweat.
I'm taking the controversial stance that sweaty dudes smell gross. That means I have two mutations that impair OR7D4, an odorant receptor that responds to androstenone. Thanks, science.
Four, scientists produce pseudo-sweat by the bucket load. Ew. This isn't post-workout apocrine sweat. Eccrine sweat forms in your hands or feet when you're nervous about something like, say, talking in front of a camera.
And scientists can reproduce it in the lab. Why the need for fake sweat? Well, forensic scientists use it as a control when testing for fingerprints. And credit card companies use it to make sure your sweaty hands don't rub off the magnetic strips.
There more than 400 proteins in human perspiration. But a company that makes the fake stuff, Sweat Check, mimics sweat using eight minerals, three metabolites, and 20 amino acids.