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Old people really do smell different tho.
There is even a Wikipedia entry about it
Research suggests that this enables humans to determine the suitability of potential partners based on age, in addition to other factors
If only there was some other way to tell if someone was old.
Smell is a powerful sense most of us don't really understand logically. For example; We pick up clues as to a mate's compatibility through kissing, tells us how compatible we are in order to have children with strong immune systems.
https://www.npr.org/2011/02/11/133686008/The-Science-Of-Kissing
And yes, have you ever noticed how hyper-sensitive we are to age? We can dial in someone's age at a glance, gender too! Watch people in traffic, just a peek, see how well you do. But we can fail, and we do, all the time.
Here's a freaky fact I've seen born out over and over. Young women are terrible at guessing an older man's age, usually aiming lower. Older men fail in the opposite direction, thinking a young woman is older. And that's how we tend to like it! Older men want younger women and vice versa.
tl;dr: You all primates, get over yourselves.
I'm returning to monke
Hey man, you just never truly know unless you smell someone.
I've seen a study that suggested that there's a gland behind our ears that becomes more active as we grow older that could possibly be the source of that smell. If true, maybe older people just don't have the mobility to raise their hands above their shoulders or just don't wash often enough anymore. Either way, for the past decade or so I never skip washing behind my ears, just in case lol.