O que é o amor? Quais os sintomas de uma paixão? Existe mesmo a tal química entre os apaixonados?
"Love is ecstasy and torment, freedom and slavery." Poets and songwriters would be in a fine mess without it. Plus, it makes the world go round.
However, until recently scientists wanted no part of it. Why? "Love is mushy; science is hard."
Anger and fear, feetings that have been considerably researched, can be quantified through measurements: pulse and breathing rates, muscle contractions and other involuntary responses. Love may not be registered as definitively on the instruments, it leaves a blurred fingerprint that could be mistaken for anything from indigestion to a manic attack.
Only recently have scientists had a change of heart about love. Explanations for this change vary. Some cite the spreading thread of AIDS - casual sex carrying mortal risks makes it important to know more about a force that binds couples together. Others point to the growing number of female scientists (more willing to take love seriously than their male colleagues).
And what are the symptoms of love?
Lovers are literally flooded by chemicals. A meeting of eyes, a touch of hands, a whiff of scent sets off a flood that starts in the brain and races along the nerves and through blood. The results are familiar: flushed skin, sweaty palms, heavy breathing.
There is also the euphoria of falling in love. This is because the body is stimulated to produce chemicals cousins to amphetamines.
Chemicals may help explain the feeling of passion. But why do people tend to fall in love with one partner than a myriad of others?
Like the universe, the more we learn about love, the more mysterious it is likely to appear.
(adapted from time)