Tired of horribly gone first dates where the person is nothing like their online profiles promised? Worry not, because the ultimate knight in shining armour in the field of online dating is here: a dating app based on your DNA!
That's right, the idea of 'soul'mate doesn't seem too farfetched anymore.
Also Read: Food and Artificial Intelligence: Just things that make your dating profile more appealing!
This genetics based app is called Pheramor – and its sole purpose is to link us to people whose sexual chemistry is compatible with ours, based on 11 genes. The science of dating has never seemed more thrilling!
While this information could also reveal how diverse someone's immune system is compared to our own, the coolest trick of this app is the procedure it follows – just a swab from the cheek.
Users are required to take swabs from their cheeks, which will help in isolating the key genes that link to their pheromones – or the chemical signals secreted in bodily fluids which influences the behaviour of the opposite sex – including stimulating sexual interest.
The data collected from the swab is then combined with personality traits as mentioned in the user's social media profile.
"When we smell pheromones, what we're actually smelling is how diverse someone's immune system is compared to our own," Brittany Barreto, who has a doctorate in genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, shared with Houston Chronicle.
"Evolution is very strong. So we're smelling each other, trying to figure out who is the best person to mate with," she said. "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'."
Pheramor – allowing an age limit from 18 to 44, also digs deeper by pulling details from the user's social media profiles – such as music, books, movies and so on. It also, in a way, does away the bias of creating a separate profile strictly for dating purposes, as the creators claim.
"So many profiles, people just write, 'I love adventure, and I'm super laid back.' And it's like, 'Who are you? What does that mean?" said Dr Baretto. "And then you meet them, and they're not even adventurous."
"So us building the profile for users takes away the idea that someone has a standard profile that they write to put up on a dating app," she said.
At least 3,000 members are needed before the co-founders can go ahead with their expected official launch, scheduled in February 2018.
To make it simpler, as Dr Baretto explains, "You can meet someone on a train and have that initial attraction. But what if you never met that person? The way I see it, we're helping you find those missed connections."
