A new study has suggested a potential connection between a person’s scent compounds and their gender, raising questions about its applicability in forensic science.
Researchers were able to differentiate between male and female participants by examining the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from their bodies. These VOCs, which form the primary component of body odor, result from a combination of genetics, environmental factors, and bodily secretions.
In their research conducted last year, Kenneth Furton of Florida International University and his team recruited 60 individuals from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Thirty participants identified as male, and the remaining thirty identified as female.
The participants were instructed to hold cotton gauzes in their hands for ten minutes. After leaving the gauzes unwashed for an hour, they were treated with specific chemical reagents. The scientists then analyzed these samples using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry to pinpoint the individual chemicals present.
Utilizing a model based on linear discriminant analysis, Furton and his colleagues successfully identified the gender of participants with 97 percent accuracy, correctly classifying 29 individuals from each group.
“The most interesting aspect of this paper is that they were able to reliably discriminate between male and female donors through advanced statistical methods (aka chemometrics),” stated John Goodpaster from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
Aaron Tarone from Texas A&M University added, “A big issue here is gender versus sex. This research did not report sex of individuals, so it is unclear how correlated gender versus sex-biased odours are.
“This may or may not matter and likely ties to whether the odours are part of innate odour production versus gendered differences in chemical exposure to hands.”
Currently, implementing this scientific method in police investigations seems far-fetched, not least because gender is a social construct.
Hands play a significant role in contact crimes like robbery and assault, and identifying a suspect’s gender could be beneficial if fingerprints or other DNA evidence are missing.
However, it appears that hand VOCs do not persist at crime scenes. Moreover, personal relationships, hobbies, and professions might influence hand profiles.
“I think the main barrier to broader adoption of this method in forensic science is that hand VOCs have not been proven to linger at crime scenes or on materials, like discarded gloves or other clothing,” Goodpaster explained.
Nevertheless, the findings are intriguing.