What Does Anger Smell Like?

Paperback novelists have told us for years that fear has a distinctive smell. We’ve been told that animals have the ability to “smell” our fear. But what about other emotions? Do they smell too? Glad you asked, A new study suggests anger does indeed have a scent.

German and Swedish researchers had 15 healthy male volunteers give a sample of their body odor, once after a boxing session and once after using an exercise machine. The participants also had their anger and aggression levels measured after each exercise.

Then the body odor samples were given to 22 other volunteers, who sniffed each while having their brains monitored.

Scientists say the volunteers showed "heightened levels of anxiety" when exposed to the samples from the boxing sessions, but when they sniffed the odor from the exercise machine sessions, they had no response. It's thought the ability to smell aggression is leftover from our evolutionary past. Back in the day, smelling someone else’s anger could have been a way to avoid a stone tipped spear in the back! (Daily Mail)