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This is Scientific American's 60-second Science.I'm Christie Nicholson.Got a minute?

A woman friend of mine recently commented about her guy: “He’s such a boy. His towels are stinky. And he doesn’t seem to notice!” Well, maybe he can’t smell the stinkyness. According to recent research from the Monell Chemical Senses Center, women have much sharper noses.

Scientists collected microdroplets of perspiration¹, and had men and women sniff² the vials. According to both, the odors were equally rich. Subjects were then asked to rate odor strength when sniffing³ the sweat mixed one by one with 32 different fragrances⁴. Only two of the fragrances stopped women from smelling the sweat. But 19 fragrances successfully blocked it from male noses.

Body odor is special—the authors note that in previous studies men’s and women’s scent⁵ detection did not differ when it came to other aromas⁶. The researchers also concluded that men’s odor is harder to mask than women’s, regardless of who sniffs⁷. Only a fifth of the fragrances could cover up male odor. But half of the scents⁸ masked female odor. The researchers suggest that for women there may be important biological information contained in male sweat. So maybe don’t wash those towels just yet.

Thanks for the minute for Scientific American's 60-second Science.I'm Christie Nicholson.