Pentagon Explores 'Human Fear' Chemicals; Scare-Sensors, 'Contagious' Stress in the Works?

[Newsjock]

Source: Wired

American military researchers are working to uncover and harness the most terrifying chemical imaginable: that most primal odor, the scent of fear.

Pheromones are chemicals released by animals as signals to their own kind: for sex, for territorial marking, and more. They're often detected in the olfactory membranes. But there's more to pheromones than attraction. Many animals have an alarm pheromone which is used to signal danger; aphids, for example, use it to cause their fellow lice to flee.

Now, the US Army is trying to track down and harness people's smell of fear. The military has backed a study on the "Identification and Isolation of Human Alarm Pheromones," which "focused on the Preliminary Identification of Steroids of Interest in Human Fear Sweat." The so-called "skydiving protocol" was the researchers' method of choice.

... On its own, the alarm pheromone probably would not do much. But given an external trigger, such as a loud noise, it could influence people to start stampeding like spooked cattle. Then again, the bee alarm pheromone triggers attack rather than flight, and the Viennese study suggested something similar may apply to humans -- or are there multiple pheromones involved? Whatever is going on, this research is likely to uncover some novel and powerful ways of manipulating human behavior.


Read more: http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/01/pentagon-resear.html

[Ian David]

1. At least they've abandoned "The Gay Bomb." n/t

[angstlessk]

2. ya beat me to it...I was gonna say 'instead of the bomb that makes everyone want to have gay sex'

your too quick for me! I mean that in a non sexual way!

[Ian David]

3. Maybe they've been testing The Gay Bomb at The Minnesota Airport? n/t

[daleo]

4. Fighting terrorism with fearism

That's the ticket.

[frog92969]

5. ANOTHER fear card

Really a one trick pony these days.

[Andy Canuck]

6. Sound like the movie Jacob's Ladder.

A creepy movie and Adrian Lyne's finest work.