Scientists discover they can tell a person's gender just by how their hand smells

A study has highlighted a possible link between a person’s scent compounds and their gender, with questions being raised over the possibility of it being used in forensic science.

Scientists were able to discriminate between those study participants who identify as men and those who identify as women by analysing the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) secreted from their bodies. These chemicals are the main component of body odour and are a product of genetics, the environment and body secretions.

For their research last year, Kenneth Furton at Florida International University and his team recruited 60 people from a range of ethnicities. 30 of these people self-identified as male, while the other half self-identified as female.

The participants were asked to squeeze cotton gauzes for ten minutes in their hands. The gauzes were left unwashed for an hour and then processed with some chemical reagents. Then, the scientists analysed the samples using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry to identify the individual chemicals.

Will this discovery be useful? (Vithun Khamsong/Getty Images)

Using a model based on a technique called linear discriminant analysis, Furton and his colleagues were able to analyse the data and identify the genders the participants ascribed to with an accuracy of 97 percent — meaning they got 29 right from each group.

“The most interesting aspect of this paper is that they were able to reliably discriminate between male and female donors through advanced statistical methods (aka chemometrics),” says John Goodpaster at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

“A big issue here is gender versus sex,” Aaron Tarone of Texas A&M University added. “This research did not report sex of individuals, so it is unclear how correlated gender versus sex-biased odours are.

"This may or may not matter and likely ties to whether the odours are part of innate odour production versus gendered differences in chemical exposure to hands.”

At present, having the police make the most of this scientific breakthrough and implement the model in their investigations may be a long shot — and not just because gender is a social construct.

Hands scent compounds don't linger on crime scenes. (Kelvin Murray/Getty Images)

Hands are heavily involved in contact crimes, such as robbery and assault, and being able to identify the gender of a suspect can definitely help in the absence of fingerprints or other DNA.

However, it seems that hands’ VOCs don’t tend to linger on crime scenes. Not to mention that personal relationships, hobbies and professions may impact hand profiles.

“I think the main barrier to broader adoption of this method in forensic science is that hand VOCs have not been proven to linger at crime scenes or on materials, like discarded gloves or other clothing," Goodpaster said.

Still, it's certainly interesting stuff.