It’s not sexy, but with a quick stroke of a Q-tip, you could be on your way to meeting your soul mate.
Two twentysomethings have created a dating app called Pheramor that requires users to swab the inside of their mouth before joining the virtual dating pool, which makes sense since attraction is strongly related to pheromones.
According to the website:
There is a portion of your DNA that encodes for how attracted you will be to someone, and how attracted they will be to you. Pheramor sequences these specific genes associated with attraction, and uploads them into our dating algorithm. Users are then able to see all the local singles; they will see a percentage on each profile, which tells you the percentage of compatibility you’ll have!
One a cheek has been swabbed using a special kit, your sample “will be barcoded and sent to the lab for DNA sequencing of the genes responsible for attraction.”
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27-year-old Asma Mirza and 26-year-old geneticist Brittany Barreto, both from Houston, are the women behind Pheramor. The app combines DNA information with personal facts poached from your social media accounts to create a user profile.
According to the Houston Chronicle, two similar dating apps launched in Canada with little success, but that hasn’t dampened the spirits of Mirza and Barreto. They hope to use simple science to launch the U.S.’s first genetic-based dating app.
“Genetic-based human attraction has to do with pheromones. And when we smell pheromones, what we’re actually smelling is how diverse someone’s immune system is compared to our own,” Barreto tells the Houston Chronicle.
Evolution is very strong. So we’re smelling each other, trying to figure out who is the best person to mate with. And that’s what love at first sight actually is. It’s smelling someone’s pheromones from across the room, and your brain says, ‘Oh my Gosh, that’s the most perfect pheromone profile I’ve ever smelled in my entire life. I love them.
The sample swabs are processed by “in house” scientists, who isolate 11 genes that have been linked to attraction. Your identity will not be shared. Says Barreto:
That’s it. I won’t know what you look like, what your heritage is, what your disease status is. I won’t know any of that. All I know is the 11 genes for attractions, from which I’ll know who you think is hot and who you won’t like.
The app is already available, with an initial launch planned for February.
