The Smelly Side of Empathy, Part II and a Very Bad Connection

So, smell and empathy seem to be related, both centered in the amygdala.

First it was the stressed vs. regular sweat identification. Now here's a study that suggests empathic folks are better at telling you by your scent.

A 2002 study came to the same conclusion and showed it's the right nostril of empaths that does the heavy, uh, sniffing.

Oh, and psychopaths have been shown to suck at smelling.

Speaking of psychopaths, from the ville of Jack the Ripper comes new evidence about how these bad boys' brains are different from yours and mine.

Using "advanced brain-scanning techniques" a King's College team has revealed "that a critical connection between two regions of the brain appears to be abnormal in psychopaths."

The worse the psychopath, the bigger the abnomality in a little something called the "uncinate fasciculus," which connects the -- you guessed it -- amygdala and the orbitofrontal cortex.