Is it important to be able to tell the difference? Does sharing her father's HLA have any payoff for the kids or the relationship?

What is HLA? I've noticed that I can get info about someone's HLA status and if I were choosing a mate, why would it matter?

It's unknown whether this makes any difference for the offspring. It could be the equivalent of using paternal relatives to judge baldness (just feeling comfortable with the familiar) or it could be something of adaptive significance. HLA genes certainly play a role in susceptibility to a variety of illnesses by affecting immune response, but as far as I know, there are not 'good' HLA genes and 'bad' HLA genes. Also, the women weren't choosing the "best" shirts. They were choosing the ones with similar HLA to their fathers. It was hard to understand.

Also, the women weren't choosing the "best" shirts. They were choosing the ones with similar HLA to their fathers. It was hard to understand.

What was their directive?

My SO's have varied considerably in body types and quantity of hair. They were all brainy. None resembled my father physically, but he was also big with the smarts. The big difference from dear old dad was that my father was quiet, as in almost never heard quiet. An eccentric introvert by any definition. All 3 DH's have been social beings. My mother once told me the only thing they had in common was that they all talked so much. I think the only thing they had in common was they all adored me, and that also they shared with Dad.

Yay for the happy return of the traveling Buffistas.

Ah, I got all mixed. The info I was trying to remember was that HLA has to deal with Human Leukocyte Antigens. Looking for people who have similar HLA is part of the process for bone marrow transplants.

I was originally thinking of CMV. Now I gotta go look up CMV to see why that matters.

What was their directive?

To identify the ones that smelled best to them, I think. Er, best in terms of nicest.

Actually, it is kind of like a drug cocktail. For my work Mac. It was, in professional jargon, 'acting squirrelly', so I gave my comp a Cocktail.

Nice. It looks like a more comprehensive version of Onyx.

What was their directive?

Each t-shirt was in a container with a hole in the top. The women didn't know that there were t-shirts in there. They were told to smell the contents of each container and asked to say which ones they would choose, and which they would not choose, if they had to smell them all of the time.

The women didn't know that there were t-shirts in there. They were told to smell the contents of each container and asked to say which ones they would choose, and which they would not choose, if they had to smell them all of the time

Given this directive, I'd parse it out to "best." Not best for making babies with me, just generic "best."

Was there any distinction for women who were also choosing their own HLA? And has this been done with guys?

Was there any distinction for women who were also choosing their own HLA? And has this been done with guys?

The women were, on average, choosing their own HLA too. But if you divided out the part of thier own HLA that came from their fathers and the part that came from their mothers it was only the part from their fathers that determined their choices.

I don't think that it has been done with guys.

Guys only smell T-shirts when they're deciding whether to do the laundry.

t /sexist