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RE: 💫 The Evolution of Communication-📞 OR why people DON'T CALL anymore
Hey Bella,
great article. The use of the vomeronasal organ (or Jacobson's organ) by humans is actually highly disputed (for reference, see Witt & Hummel 2006, Wysocki & Preti 2004, Bhatnagar et al. 1987 or the book Pheromones and Animal Behaviour by Tristram D. Wyatt) - however, I agree with the rest: we should get away from our phones (and computers) to spend more quality time together. Many of us tend to neglect this, although it's actually good for us.
Hi;), well I have red very much about it, not online;). Articles written by doctors and biologists. I did not take the information from internet;). Have you seen the book by Lyall Watson: The Jacobson Organ and the remarkable nature of smell? I have been keeping a track on information about it for 20 years and also had personal talks with doctors who believe in it. As you know in science there are very often many different opinions.
True, opinions differ. (I mean, there are also some studies that still claim that climate change doesn't exist / isn't manmade.) However, I have to disagree: Science is never based upon belief, but upon empirical evidence. According to empirical evidence, at this stage of research - the papers I posted earlier are fairly recent and peer-reviewed - it seems highly unlikely that all humans have one and whether those that do still make use of it (this is also what is currently being taught at universities).
Currently it looks as though, to humans, the vomeronasal organ is about as useful as wisdom teeth ;-) It may have been useful as some point in our evolutionary history - but not any longer. If that is the case with a trait (whatever it is), we don't lose the trait instantly but rather lose it over extremely long periods of time. The trait or body part loses its functionality. (We biologists call this vestigiality.) Examples for this are the "legs" on some snakes (yes, they use to have legs - but they lost them at some point in evolution).
However, I agree that many non-human animals use the organ successfully. Examples would be snakes, cats, tapirs, goats, bison, or horses.
Well, dear Teodora, the book I mentioned is based on researches and not believes. There are also a few documentaries about it. I see you are very picky about the way I express my words. I agree you are the scientist, not me, but there are other scientists who wrote about it too speaking on the contrary. I just spend my free time with science books. I honestly don't like online discussions also when we both speak German is odd to me to write you in English. I hope you understant.
I don't intend to be picky as such - I just want to be sure we're talking about the same thing. I do agree it's easier to discuss everything (including science) offline over a glass of wine and in German :-)
And (this is very important to me): No offense was intended. My apologies if you feel offended! I like you as a person and appreciate talking to you very much.
Dear Theodora I am not offended. If this was on a post on my private facebook we can drop back and forth links with different experiments about it as much as we want to. Unfortunately, it is a blockchain, where nothing can be deleted. I wish I knew this in advance before I started here. I use my real name and I am so to say a public person with websites, google rankings and so on. This is one of the reasons why I prefer to skip long discussions on public posts. Thank you for the links, when I have more time will look at them.