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men with higher degrees of symmetry enjoy more sexual partners than men of lower symmetry.

Both men and women rated symmetrical members of the opposite sex as more attractive and in better health than their less symmetrical counterparts. The differences can be just a few percent—perceivable though not necessarily noticeable.

"It makes sense to use symmetry variation in mate choice," said evolutionary biologist Randy Thornhill of the University of New Mexico. "If you choose a perfectly symmetrical partner and reproduce with them, your offspring will have a better chance of being symmetric and able to deal with perturbations."

Women with a WHR of 0.7—indicating a waist significantly narrower than the hips—are most desirable to men.

Psychologist Devendra Singh of the University of Texas studied people's waist-to-hip ratio (WHR).

0.8 to 1.0 WHR in men is attractive to women, although having broad shoulders is more of a turn-on.

Where fat is deposited on the body is determined by sex hormones; testosterone in men and estrogen in women. If a woman produces the proper amount and mixture of estrogen, then her WHR will naturally fall into the desired range. The same goes for a male's testosterone.

"The idea is that beauty is conveying information about health and fertility, and we admire that,

Men's faces are shaped by testosterone, which helps develop a larger lower face and jaw and a prominent brow.

Research reported last month found women both smell and look more attractive to men at certain times of the month.

The rules of attraction, it turns out, seem sometimes to play out in our subconscious.

A 2002 study found women prefer the scent of men with genes somewhat similar to their own over the scent of nearly genetically identical or totally dissimilar men.