Expert: Walter Hintz - 7/21/2011

Question
QUESTION: Do human pheromones exist? And how plausible is the idea of human females releasing a airborne pheromone that mitigates and/or lowers testosterone levels and/or action in men?

Thanks for your help.

ANSWER: Hi Leto
As far as I know the jury is still out on human pheromones. No one has been able to detect such chemicals in the air (Although some companies are selling such chemicals) From an evolutionary standpoint such pheromones do not make much sense. Terrestrial invertebrates need them to survive. We don't

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QUESTION: Thanks a lot for your help. I just have one more question; in regards to people of mixed heritage, are they inherently disadvantaged genetically (less fit, smaller size, worse health etc.)? I'm coming from the viewpoint of outbreeding depression:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outbreeding_depression

I'm not a geneticist, so I don't really understand the article so I don't really know the implications of outbreeding depression on the genetic fitness of a person of mixed descent.

Answer
I looked over the article. I do not pay to much attention to anything from wikipedia. Drawing from the gene pool may lead  to a type of natural selection called selective selection. I don't believe the word "depression" here refers to a mental state. What is mixed Heritage anyway. The term is arbitrary. Humans are mixing all the time and there is no evidence that this is a problem except with certain ailments