Social Network Biology and Human Chemosignaling

Human beings evolved to form social networks, so our networks are deeply inscribed in our biology. With support from the NOMIS Foundation, and Schmidt Futures, the Pershing Square Foundation, the Rothberg Catalyzer, and in partnership with the Ministry of Health in Honduras, we have most recently been collecting biological specimens from 2,000 people in 18 isolated villages in Copan, Honduras. These data have allowed us to test many ideas about the structure and function of human social networks, ranging from the road of our genes to the spread of the microbiome (published in a landmark paper in 2024) to the role of human chemosignaling and olfaction in social connection. In this video (12 minutes long), we discuss our driving motivations, our research design, and our goals for the chemosignaling project, as we began it.