Kissing is wonderful - so wonderful that most of us can recall 90 per cent of the details of our first kiss. Human beings have been preoccupied with kissing for years. It features as the climax of all great Hollywood love stories, and is celebrated by singers and poets alike. In reality, kissing is nothing more than two people putting their faces together and exchanging spit. How on earth did something so gross become so appealing? The act of kissing has developed to become advantageous to humans: if it didn't serve an evolutionary purpose, we simply would not do it.
So what’s in a kiss? More than you might think
Imagine a kiss being like a job interview for the elusive role of being someone’s significant other. The interviewer is looking for the candidate who best matches the job description. Similarly, when we kiss, we are looking for a mate that best matches our genetic make-up. 'Wait, what do genes have to do with kissing?!' - I hear you scream. Well, we actually have a group of genes called the MHC (major histocompatibility complex) genes that form part of our immune system and give us our natural scent. In a famous experiment, women overwhelmingly preferred the smell of t-shirts worn by men with different MHC genes from their own. This is because when two people with different MHC genes mate, the baby they would produce would have a selection of components from each of their immune systems. A more diverse immune system has a greater ability to fight disease. Therefore, opposites really do attract. This explains why we prefer kissing one person over another. It’s in our genes.
Jees I thought I was just having a good snog. Do you like kissing, what does it mean to you????
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Kissing is wonderful - so wonderful that most of us can recall 90 per cent of the details of our first kiss. Human beings have been preoccupied with kissing for years. It features as the climax of all great Hollywood love stories, and is celebrated by singers and poets alike. In reality, kissing is nothing more than two people putting their faces together and exchanging spit. How on earth did something so gross become so appealing? The act of kissing has developed to become advantageous to humans: if it didn't serve an evolutionary purpose, we simply would not do it.
So what’s in a kiss? More than you might think
Imagine a kiss being like a job interview for the elusive role of being someone’s significant other. The interviewer is looking for the candidate who best matches the job description. Similarly, when we kiss, we are looking for a mate that best matches our genetic make-up. 'Wait, what do genes have to do with kissing?!' - I hear you scream. Well, we actually have a group of genes called the MHC (major histocompatibility complex) genes that form part of our immune system and give us our natural scent. In a famous experiment, women overwhelmingly preferred the smell of t-shirts worn by men with different MHC genes from their own. This is because when two people with different MHC genes mate, the baby they would produce would have a selection of components from each of their immune systems. A more diverse immune system has a greater ability to fight disease. Therefore, opposites really do attract. This explains why we prefer kissing one person over another. It’s in our genes.
Jees I thought I was just having a good snog.
Do you like kissing, what does it mean to you????