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PSCICOM members near Leeds might be interested in the following free event for the general public this week, being organized by the Leeds Phil and Lit. 7.30 pm Thursday 17 February in the Seminar room (first floor) Biochemistry Dept Leeds University, near the bottom of Mount Preston St, off Clarendon Road. Lecture is free and you do not need a ticket. There will be someone at the bottom of Mount Preston Street to direct you to the right building ! title "Following your nose to love? Do humans have pheromones?" We may not think smell is important in our lives but it could be the key to falling in love, remembering our families, and a clue to early diagnosis of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Paradoxically we spend billions of pounds a year both on perfumes and deodorants. Smells are important. For most of us, falling in love may not be a matter of looks alone. An important part of attraction may be the smell of a partner and, specifically, the allure can be the difference from ours. Difference does attract! And while we may not have pheromones for instant allure, there is good evidence that we do have some pheromones and that they might even offer the birth control pill of the future. All welcome - NO previous background in science needed. Bio: Tristram Wyatt is an Oxford zoologist fascinated by the ways animals (and humans) communicate with smell. This is the focus of his book Pheromones and Animal Behaviour, published by Cambridge University Press in 2003, to excellent reviews (see http://www.online.ox.ac.uk/pheromones/ ). He has featured in many TV and radio programmes about animal behaviour. His work has appeared in Natural History and New Scientist magazines as well as the scientific literature. He works in the Zoology Department at the University of Oxford. He is also the University's Director of Distance and Online Learning, based in the Department for Continuing Education, and Oxford's liaison with AllLearn http://www.alllearn.org/ (Stanford, Yale and Oxford's not-for-profit online learning project for the general public). Tristram Wyatt is a fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford. ********************************************************************** 1. To suspend yourself from the list, whilst on leave, for example, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the following message: set psci-com nomail 2. To resume email from the list, send the following message: set psci-com mail 3. To leave psci-com, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the message: leave psci-com 4. Further information about the psci-com discussion list, including list archive, can be found at the list web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/psci-com.html 5. The psci-com gateway to internet resources on science communication and science and society can be found at http://psci-com.org.uk **********************************************************************