Do women and men perceive smells the same way?

In standard tests of olfactory sensitivity—that is, odor detection, discrimination, and identification—women consistently score higher than men. One researcher argues that superior olfactory sensitivity is evident even in newborn females. Is this 100% reliable? One study suggests that findings regarding sex differences may not be entirely reliable, and that differences in olfactory performance may apply only to certain odors. Does a woman's cycle affect the differences in results? It's also possible that many studies failed to account for changes in women's sensitivity to odors during the menstrual cycle. For example, it's known that women's sensitivity to male pheromones is 10,000 times stronger during ovulation than during menstruation. These fluctuations may account for some of the inconsistencies in the results. However, the female cycle cannot explain why results are higher in girls than in boys. Can you recognize a baby or spouse by smell? At the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, childless women held unrelated infants in their arms for an hour. Afterward, they were tested for their ability to recognize the infants' scent. Most women accurately identified the infant's scent. The researchers concluded: "This demonstrates that the ability to identify infants by scent is a more general human ability than previously assumed ." However, the researchers did not test men in this regard, so it may be a female-specific ability. Another study found that both men and women are able to recognize their own children or spouses by smell.