Neuromag asked:
What is love?
While our last question was one of ‘the 20 biggest questions in science’
(The Guardian), our new big question is rather one of the biggest questions
of humanity:
GA
Love is th
e
ment. It is essence of hum
an attac
also one
h-
o
man nee
ds (e.g. fo f the very basic h
u-
od, shelte
gest shou
r) tha
ld b
kindergart e included in textb t I sug-
en onward
ooks from
s..
e
cat
edi dby
d
to
an
on nd st . Love
i
s
i
dec on a e bad they
s a r pers nd th when can
i
t ys
e the
a en
lov
p, i
od
MP me, o ano he go ne ev us u t alwa es
t
For rself ugh t omeo e lifts y is no ve do
o
o
s
u
o
h
y m t r dby u. Lov rtainl ure, l
e
n
the o sta et yo d it c for s
s
n
tion of
is t e ups out, a hing i
S
the sensa
,
g
in
k
a
e
p
s
pamine,
hav ck us one t
Chemically
xytocin, do sin.
o
m
o
fr
t
o
s
ate
kn y, bu
d vasopres ls
love origin
sterone an
to
s
te
,
hemica
eas quit.
n
e
g
estro
ese neuroc
t
th
f
o
n
o
o
ti
a
n
chment
The combin er preference, atta
n
art
ay more
leads to p
, love is w
ily
k
c
u
L
..
e
riv
SR
and sex d
ive, love
ionary perspect
ut
an this..
ol
th
ev
x
e
th
le
e
p
From
com
eling for th
fe
t
an
rt
po
im
was and is an
. Some
ival of humanity
rv
su
d
an
s
es
succ
volved
Laura
and brains co-e
ve
lo
Dudek
k
in
th
ts
is
-
nt
se
scie
ea
cr
in
L
e
o
th
v
as
s,
e
or
st
c
ce
a
n
in our primate an
to earlier
couples be found eve
primates lead
e
,
rywher
th
of
n
ai
br
ss
ing
lple
e
means friends or
ent and more he
even s . Between
pm
b
lo
ve
e
de
in
in
g
hs
as
w
birt
t
g
s
r
in
t
e
ange
h
nd
lf
in
bo
le
g for o
other-child
ther pe ss and doing rs. It
d
an
babies. Thus m
d
p
pe
lo
r
ve
e
o
de
p
s
ple. It c
ared
love that
an be ome-
the first kind of
the stre food or just
romantic love
a nicely
ng
vi
ol
ev
r
a
e
fo
t
. Love k
s
paved the way
another
eeps h imple smile o
suggest to be
umans
n
ts
is
nt
ie
sc
In
at
.
th
alive.
rvival
ease infant su
cr
in
to
gy
t
te
en
ra
st
differ
mean that the
sum, this would
mantic
ro
,
re
si
(sexual de
ve
lo
of
es
ag
st
t to guar-
ship stage) exis
on
ni
pa
m
co
,
ve
lo
uity of life.
we think
antee the contin
semir
uffer when vived,
s
e
w
t
n
e
om
re
love is a m
r cells are
er, all of ou
h
/
to have
t
im
n
h
a
t
u
w
abo
‘Love
er we
h
/
im
h
e
e
/her.
s
i
when we
When s an unta
elong to him
b
e
c
n
te
is
x
m
e
our whole
When we try to ed force.
c
w
o
n
e
t
rol it,
try to
When
it
im
feelin we try to prison it destroys
us.
, it en
unde
g los
t
r
(Paul
s
o Coe and confu stand it, it laves us.
lho)
sed.’
leave
s us
18 | NEUROMAG |July 2018
Renee Hartig
Love is a natural feeling that cannot
al-
ways be suppressed, sometimes we have
conscious control over the feelings of love
and other times these feelings rise from
our hearts without any conscious thou
ght
at all. Thank god for love – that we
re-
member this world is not just full of hate
,
that there are good people and compas-
sion exists.
JH
Love is an innate
fire, so hot that it
burns
away the dirt of
our rationality to
leave a
pure golden nugg
et of sentiment th
at out-
shines every star
in the universe.....W
hen
burning we can
become a lightho
use of
happiness and cr
eativity and reve
al the
most genuinely go
od sides of human
kind.
But so infinitely
hot can the fire be
come
that it blinds our
eyes, numbs our
senses
and burns our he
art to ashes. We
be
come
heartbroken, sick
of our own life or
devas-
tators of other pe
ople’s lifes. here
is only
one sure thing: th
ere is no cure to
love
and no vaccinatio
n available to be
come
immune...And th
ere is indeed so
much
room for love ever
y day that goes be
yond
romantic love bu
t is often preven
ted by
the grip of though
ts revolving around
our-
selves. The less
self-possessed w
e be-
come, the more sp
ace opens for tru
e love.
Check out our website blog.
blog.neuromag.net/question/what-is-love/