Scientists study how we recognize our own smell.

Have you ever smelled something that reminded you of a certain person?

New research indicates that people are able to identify their own scent based on their combination of molecules known as major histocompatibility complex proteins, or MHC peptides.

The combination of MHC peptides is unique and different in each individual.

Scientists have found that by using MHC peptides, people can recognize their own smell.

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Germany took a study sample of 22 women who were given a choice between two scented solutions applied to their armpits.

One of the solutions contained MHC peptides that matched the ones naturally occurring in their own bodies and the other did not.

The women preferred the scent that matched their own MHC peptides when applying it to themselves, which shows that people can recognize their own scent.

When it comes to other people, test subjects preferred MHC peptides that were not the same as their own.

Do you know your own smell?