There's a relatively new trend in dating spheres these days, one that takes people's DNA and matches them via smell, immunity and/or biochemical matchmaking. The creators of such dating services, such as DNA Dating and GenePartner, ask users to pay a fee ranging from one hundred to several thousand dollars, take a DNA sample, and then match singles with other users in their databases using complex matching algorithms, primarily taking into account ones immune system.

I was interviewed on this same topic earlier last week by the New York Times, which owns About.com. [Blinded By Science In The Online Dating Game](http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/internet/18shortcuts.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&ref=technology) touches on some of the issues and debates regarding these kinds of programs, although it focuses more on online matchmaking science a la [eHarmony](http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://dating.about.com/od/largestdatingsites/fr/eHarmony.htm) and [Chemistry.com](http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://dating.about.com/od/sitereviews/fr/chemistry.htm). What the article didn't touch on was the pheromone side of the science of matchmaking, namely the use of a scent that supposedly makes folks irresistible to others.

Personally, I've used [used pheromones to attract people](http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://dating.about.com/b/2008/11/25/using-pheromones-to-attract-people.htm), and tested them while on a date as well as randomly. In both instances, the people whose company I kept either mentioned the fragrance, or reacted differently to me than they normally would have. But I still have to wonder if the use of these pheromones masked my natural scent - and thus messed with my own personal 'DNA compatibility', similarly to how women taking birth control pills choose dramatically different men (from an immunological perspective) than when they were Pill-free.

But what if a dating company took these types of 'dating science' and blended them into a real-world application? Dial Body Wash is trying to just that this weekend in a speed dating extravaganza, where the women are blindfolded and the men are in bathrobes. Nine men and women will 'meet' one another where some of the men will have have used [Dial's new pheromone-enhanced body wash](http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://www.getmagnetic.com/) beforehand. Author and Matchmaker Janis Spindel will also be in attendance, assisting the singles to connect during the event.

Will it work? I haven't a clue, and I'm not near enough to New York to attend and see what happens in person. But I'd be interested to see who moves in the speed dating portion of the event - do the men approach the women, or the women approach the men? I'll bet that the men are approaching the women, as the women are blindfolded. This is a good thing, as evidenced by other recent research, which found[ men to have a stronger attraction to the women they met in speed dating events when they moved](http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://dating.about.com/b/2009/04/08/a-new-law-of-attraction-have-them-come-to-you.htm), as opposed to the other way around.

[Smell Dating? Dating Science? Pheremones and Speed Dating Take A New Leap](http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://dating.about.com/b/2009/07/20/smell-dating-dating-science-pheremones-and-speed-dating-take-a-new-leap.htm) originally appeared on [About.com Dating](http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://dating.about.com/) on Monday, July 20th, 2009 at 14:55:23.

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