Hi kids I thought I'd share with you a little of what I know about the science of falling in love. It may sound terribly unromantic but *I* think it's interesting so listen up or hit the delete key NOW! A recent study into the science of falling in love had some interesting findings. When a person gets the love-bug, a heady cocktail of neurotransmitters (chemicals which affect the brain) is released. The main one is dopamine, the same feelgood chemical which gives runners 'highs' and which hits the same receptors as heroin. The study found that, like junkies and athletes, lovers can become 'hooked' on this feeling, craving the company and attentions of their adored object. So far, so banal. However, they also found that this chemicaly sustained love-drug high would only last a maximum of 12 months, just long enough to complete the reproductive cycle. After this time, (the researchers rather unromantically suggest) the lovers may stay together either out of habit, or to look after a newly dropped sprog. (or 'born baby' to our american readers, if I've got any left) Otherwise they may leave the relationship to find the same feeling elsewhere - wandering love-junkies in an ever more desperate search for a quick fix. All this (if we take it as true) may lead us to certain conclusions. If we can only expect *that* feeling to last for a year at best, then we'd better be pretty sure that there's something deeper there, like those feelings of friendship, trust and respect that other sinisterines have been rightly focusing on. Although being in love in the all-consuming, early-stages-of-a-relationship and _biological_ sense is THE BEST FEELING IN THE WORLD, it ain't gunna last forever. So if you want to stay together (and boy, girl, *I* want you to, I love you both) be ready for the 12-month blues. True love, geoff PS Who needs girls when there's Marcus round? +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "jelly-filled danishes" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+