Love is, to many researchers, so difficult to define that no one can grasp it scientifically. BUT… some researchers are undaunted in trying to understand and control love. Perhaps preeminent among the dauntless is Robert J. Sternberg, professor of development at Cornell University. Professor Sternberg’s web page proclaims: EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT: If you’re interested in my […]
Tag: love
Tiffany Love’s Monetary Incentives Guide to “the Love Molecule”
Love, money, and a lovably-nicknamed molecule are all in the mix — hey, they ARE the mix — in this newly published study: “Oxytocin modulates hemodynamic responses to monetary incentives in humans,” Brian J. Mickey, Joseph Heffernan, Curtis Heisel, Marta Peciña, David T. Hsu, Jon-Kar Zubieta, Tiffany M. Love [pictured here], Psychopharmacology, epub 2016. The […]
Mathematicians’ Romantic Yearning for Love and Chaos
Here’s the latest chapter in a possibly endless series of papers by different mathematicians fancifully using the metaphors and mathematics of chaos to tell and re-tell tales of love: “Love stories can be unpredictable: Jules et Jim in the vortex of life,” Fabio Dercole and Sergio Rinaldi, Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science, vol. 24, 023134, 2014. […]
The biochemistry of love: an interview with Ig winner Donatella Marazziti
The Faculty of 1000 blog interviews Ig Nobel Prize winner Donatella Marazitti: The biochemistry of love: an interview with Donatella Marazziti By Samuel Winthrop 21 May 2014 Donatella Marazziti is a professor of psychiatry and the director of the psychopharmacology laboratory at the Department of Psychiatry, Neurobiology, Pharmacology and Biotechnology at the University of Pisa. She […]
Quarreling over the ethics of anti-love biotechnology
The ethics of anti-love biotechnology — a topic little discussed in some circles — are chewed over in a special issue (volume 13, issue 11, 2013) of the American Journal of Bioethics. Among the articles there that you might love to read or not to read: The Difficult Case of Voluntariness as Autonomy in Anti-Love […]
Press Release of the Week: “Reduced cognitive control in passionate lovers”
This week’s Press Release of the Week was released into the wild by Leiden University. Here are its headline and highlights: Reduced cognitive control in passionate lovers People who are in love are less able to focus and to perform tasks that require attention. Researcher Henk van Steenbergen [pictured here] concludes this, together with colleagues […]
A mathematical model of ‘Gone with the Wind’
Mathematicians (of any competent sort) are like writers: they believe that they can describe almost anything. This study is an exercise in write about using math to describe a love story: “A mathematical model of ‘Gone with the Wind’“, Sergio Rinaldi [pictured here], Fabio Della Rossa, Pietro Landi, Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, […]
Love-words have been disappearing from love songs
Words about love are, or at least were, disappearing from love songs. This University of Colorado study quantified the phenomenon: “Expressions of love, sex, and hurt in popular songs: A content analysis of all-time greatest hits,” Richard L. Dukes [pictured here], Tara M. Bisel, Karoline N. Borega, Eligio A. Lobato, Matthew D. Owens, The Social Science […]
Finding an optimal seating chart for a wedding
Finding an optimal seating chart by Meghan L. Bellows (Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University) and J.D. Luc Peterson (Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University) EDITOR’S NOTE: The authors submitted this article long prior to the wedding. Somehow we managed to not see it until long after. The only benefit being that the […]
Psychologists’ verdict (and so on) on online dating
The American Psychological Association has lots to say about the online dating industry, and is rushing to say it just as Valentine’s Day approaches: 1. A press release: PRESS RELEASE February 6, 2012 — For Immediate Release Grading The Online Dating Industry New Scientific Report Finds Some Positives, Many Areas for Improvement The report card […]