A woman's highly attuned smell radar help her select a mate

Women may be better at sniffing out biologically relevant information from underarm sweat, a US study suggests.

Dr Leslie Knapp, an expert in biological anthropology at the University of Cambridge, said there were good evolutionary reasons why a woman's ability to detect body odours should be more acute, as it could literally be an effective way to sniff out a suitable mate

She said: "Women perhaps need to be more discriminating when they choose who to mate with to produce offspring, as they invest more than males in the reproductive process.

Dr Knapp said there was evidence that odour gave a hint about genetic make-up. She highlighted HLA genes involved in the immune response.

She said in evolutionary terms it was desirable for a women to mate with a man whose genes were different from hers, as this was likely to produce more robust offspring.

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The power of jealousy depends on how tall you are?

Short people should pray for a return to the Seventies fashion of stack heels, for the power of jealousy depends on how tall you are, the British weekly New Scientist says.

Researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and University of Valencia in Spain asked 549 Dutch and Spanish men and women to rate how jealous they felt, and to list the qualities in a romantic competitor that were most likely to make them ill at ease.

Men generally felt most nervous about attractive, rich and strong rivals

But these feelings were increasingly relaxed the taller they were themselves. The more vertically challenged the man, the greater his feelings of jealousy.

For women, what counted most in jealousy was the rival's looks and charm, but these feelings were less intense if the woman herself was of average height.

This makes sense in evolutionary terms, says New Scientist, in next Saturday's issue

Taller men are most successful with women, and women of medium height enjoy the best health, fertility and popularity with men.

On the other hand, a woman of average height could in certain circumstancesfall afoul of the green-eyed monster if their rival were taller.

"Taller women are more dominant and have greater fighting abilities than shorter women," says the study, which appears in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.

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Three fashion indicators under economic crisis

1. lipstick indicator 口红指数

One Depression-era pattern in female spending was the 25 percent increase in cosmetics sales. When a similar spike occurred during the economic doldrums of 1990 and 2001, this type of consumer behavior didn't elude Leonard Lauder, chairman of Estee Lauder Companies, which manufacture the cosmetic lines Estee Lauder, Clinique and MAC.

Lauder took particular interest in the rise in lipstick purchases. In the fall of 2001, when the economy buckled after the Sept. 11 attacks, Estee Lauder lipstick sales jumped 11 percent. That trend in discretionary (or nonessential) spending has become known as the lipstick indicator.

When women can't afford pricier indulgences, Lauder mused, lipstick offers a cheaper compromise. If a woman aches for a new Chanel handbag that far exceeds her budget, opting for a $30 tube of lipstick may feel like a thrifty shopping decision. Also, women who wear lipstick probably reapply at least a few times per day. Such instant gratification can ease the urge to shop more.

2. Hemline index 裙长指数

The shorter the skirt the stronger the economy, at least that's how the theory goes

In 1926 US economist George Taylor coined the theory of the hemline index. It was a kind of frock exchange using skirt lengths as a signal of the state of the economy .

Anyone applying this theory to the New York autumn/winter 2008 shows, would predict that we are hurtling towards a recession. Hemlines at Marc Jacobs, Jonathan Saunders and Phillip Lim were all resolutely below the knee.

Looking back over the decades it is easy to see why the connection has been made: a glimpse of leg gives a sense of independence and confidence; a sweeping skirt is a sign of modesty and austerity.

3. Hairstyle Index 发型指数

It is almost a century since the US economist George Taylor came up with the revolutionary "hemline index". Now the fashion world has finally offered up an alternative indicator of the country's economic state. The length of women's hair may no longer be seen as a result of the vagaries of fashion, but as an accurate barometer of the nation's wealth.

Japanese researchers have found that when economies are doing well, women wear their hair long; when there is a slump, they cut it short.

People enjoy fewer material pleasures in periods of recession, so want more visual pleasures, and there's more variation among short haircuts than long