Warning: the truth behind handshake-sniffing may bum you out

Other mammals partake in abundant sniffing, often in the anogenital area - so what exactly are we doing when we smell our hand after shaking someone else's?

As we all know, a firm handshake is important in making a good first impression. It's a sure sign of physical strength and, rightly or wrongly, we use it to make all manner of judgments about character, personality and sincerity.

New research now suggests that we take away much more than this - quite literally - because shaking hands may also be a way that we smell each other. An Israeli team has published a paper that shows handshakes transfer aromatic compounds thought to be involved in social assessment - that is, making judgments about someone else by virtue of how they smell.

We can detect whether someone is sick or healthy through their body odour, or whether they are fearful

Studies aiming to promote handwashing report bodily traces, including faecal bacteria, on hands of people on the street