Skip to main content

Why do humans kiss?

Why do humans kiss?


90% of cultures participate in mouth to mouth kissing , including bonobos. Aside from the fact that it feels nice and helps you feel closer to your partner, there is another benefit, and this one explains why the behavior caught on from an evolutionary standpoint. 

Mouth to mouth kissing builds up our immune systems by exposing each participant to the diseases of the other. 

Scientists believe that this is particularly important when it comes to the Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV), an infection that can pose serious risks to the woman's offspring if it is acquired during particular time periods. This virus is easily exchanged via mouth to mouth kissing. 

Therefore, because females are mostly able to control when they kiss, if they become infected with a strain of HCMV at the certain time, they are able to protect their offspring from the threat of infection when the baby is in its most vulnerable stages of development.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A great story about a little bit of 'humanity' during a terrible war.

A great story about a little bit of 'humanity' during a terrible war.                                                                                      In April 1945, 2nd Lt. Peter During was a South African fighter pilot (N.7 Squadron) running missions over Italy when his Spitfire was shot down by German AA fire. He managed to crash land his plane behind enemy lines where he was immediately captured.   Whilst been escorted to a German Lufwaffe Prisoner of War (POW) camp (he was a pilot and thus his interrogation and imprisonment was the responsibility of the German airforce), he opened a conversation with his captors. He was quickly able to establish that they could already see the writing on the wall, that the war was at an end and Germany would lose it. ...

French woman accused of sleeping with Germans during the occupation has her head shaved by vindictive neighbors in village near Marseilles.

French woman accused of sleeping with Germans during the occupation has her head shaved by vindictive neighbors in village near Marseilles.  Antony Beevor wrote: "... In Paris, there were cases of prostitutes kicked to death for having accepted German soldiers as clients. (...) A large number of the victims were prostitutes who had simply plied their trade with Germans as well as Frenchmen, although in some areas it was accepted that their conduct was professional rather than political, others were silly teenagers who had associated with German soldiers out of bravado or boredom.  In a number of cases, female schoolteachers who, living alone, had German soldiers billeted on them, were falsely denounced for having been a "mattress for the boches. (...) Women accused of having had an abortion were also assumed to have consorted with Germans.  Many victims were young mothers, whose husbands were in German prisoner-of-war camps. During the war, they often had no means of supp...

The Nazis assassinate Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in a failed coup attempt.

The Nazis assassinate Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in a failed coup attempt.  Engelbert Dollfuß (4 October 1892 – 25 July 1934) was an Austrian Fatherland Front politician who served as Chancellor of Austria between 1932 and 1934.  Having served as Minister for Forests and Agriculture, he ascended to Federal Chancellor in 1932 in the midst of a crisis for the conservative government.  In early 1933, the so called "Selbstausschaltung des Parlaments" happened, which made the Austrian parliament unable to govern.  Suppressing the Socialist movement in February 1934 during the Austrian Civil War and later banning the Austrian Nazi Party, he cemented the rule of authoritarian conservatism through the First of May Constitution.  Dollfuss was assassinated on 25 July 1934 by a group of Austrian Nazis, who entered the Chancellery building and shot him in an attempted coup d'état.  During mass trials which took place after the coup, Hudl was sentenced to li...