12 Simple Answers To Weird Questions

Exercise shrinks your penis and coffee rouses your bowels. It’s not your imagination. It’s science.

- K. Aleisha Fetters

THE DEPTHS OF THE female brain may be unfathomable, but the superficiality of the male mind is no easier to decipher. Why do we struggle to remember our loved ones’ birthdays yet retain an encyclopaedic knowledge of craft beer and sports stats? Why, after all these years of living in our skin, are we more fascinated with our own bodily functions than preserving the world for future generations? Frankly, we don’t know, but we can certainly explain why you feel like puking when someone else hurls.

Why Do I Like My Own Body Odours Better Than Everyone Else’s?

Survival of the fittest entails avoiding other people’s nastiness. Infection-causing bacteria on their bodies can be a source of disease. If you were drawn to instead of being repulsed by the unpleasant odours these bacteria sometimes emit, you’d be more susceptible to illness and death. It’s that simple, says Nina Strohminger, author of The Hedonics of Disgust. (What? That’s not in your bathroom library?) Here’s another way to look at it: if you vomited every time you took a dump, you’d be highly irregular. You’re just not genetically designed to feel revolted when you catch a whiff of yourself. And, per an Evolution and Human Behaviour study, you don’t find your loved ones’ disgusting acts as gross as a stranger’s. That’s because you share the same parents or living space, and they pose less of a disease risk.