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| This is the original text-heavy 1999 web domain of cyber-dinosaur, writer and journalist Sue Schofield, with authentic 1993 black and white Courier 12. It is now digitally restored with full Dolby surround sound and a hot tub. Schofield was an early internet pioneer with a CompuServe email address from 1975. She wrote three No 1. UK best-sellers in 1993, 1994, and 1995. She is still alive in 2012, and writes for arts, literary and science/tech publications. It's a heady mix, but someone has to do it. She was awarded a Th.D in 2001. If you'd like to get in touch with Sue without using a Ouija board, ask a human to transpose each character of the email address below, one letter to the left: email: tvf@hmjddb.dpn ~~~ | 'Love' by Sue Schofield. Written for 'Inventions and Discoveries' 'Love is a many splendoured thing' sang Frank Sinatra; 'It's nature's way of giving reason to living.' That neatly sums up love. It's the biological reason we're on the planet and love is designed to bring us together to mate. As scientists unravel our neurological mechanisms, they discover new involuntary triggers. It seems that we have no choice when it comes to love. Our bodies take over our minds. In the early 1990's, Italian researchers found that levels of the powerful sex hormone testosterone decreased in men who were in love, while they increased in women. The men become softer, more loving, a bit like women, and the women become more physically demanding, a bit like men. Further research in 1999 showed that serotonin levels plummet as the hormone is diluted by the flood of other 'love-chemicals' invading the brain, altering patterns of anger, sleep, and appetite. Love-torn people don't eat, don't sleep, and often become compulsive or obsessive. Moodyness is another symptom, as is irrational behaviour towards even the loved one. Oxytocin is a hugely powerful hormone against which we have no defence. It's released during orgasm in males and females, and during child-birth and breast-related activity in females. Oxytocin is powerful enough to cause spontaneous sexual arousal when injected into rats, and is believed to help form bonds of trust and monogamous relationships. Another powerful hormone; Arginine-vasopressin or AVP is released directly into the brain when people fall in love. It's thought to influence pair-bonding. AVP also alters social behaviour, making males more protective toward their mates, and aggressive toward other males. Is love simply a bunch of chemicals swilling round our heads? It's starting to look that way. Despite countless love-songs extolling the spiritual or metaphysical nature of love, it seems that love is just your body tipping a chemistry lab into your brain in an effort to make you breed. Your common sense and your ability to behave rationally are the first 'useless' qualities to suffer. But don't worry too much. Love tends to peter out after an average of seven months in humans. Our brains then have time to recover and regain some common sense as hormone levels return to normal. The love experience gives brains tolerance to hormones in a similar way to the brains of drug-users. We might not fall in love again until tolerance levels drop. Is it possible to control when we fall in love and with whom? Apparently not. About the only thing we can do is lie back and enjoy it. ~~~ Copyright 2008 Sue Schofield. All rights reserved | ||
| Home of Sue Schofield Somewhere on the Solent, Hampshire, UK Email:tvf@hmjddb.dpn (transpose 1 left) Copyright © 2012 | |||
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