Science Discovers Love

It used to be that love was something intangible, something ephemeral and difficult to pin down. Philosophers and poets waxed lyrical about love, but then they were allowed to.

Songs have been written by the thousands in every imaginable language about falling in – and out – of love. All along science appears to have held love as something they should not be in the least bit concerned with. Until now, that is…

Stony Brook University in New York decided to look into the matter of love. What they discovered has surprised the scientific community, though not the philosophers, poets and song writers.

Through brain scans of couples who have been together for at least 20 years, the scientists discovered that about 10% of them exhibited the exact same chemical reactions as couples in the first flush of love do when shown a photograph of their loved one.

It was believed that the love of a relationship peaked in the early stages and then dropped and flattened out. This didn’t mean that people in a relationship stopped loving each other, but rather that the intensity levelled out after a while.

The new report from Stony Brook University seems to show, however, that in some couples at least, there is what they term, “intensive companionship and sexual liveliness” for many years after they first meet.

The scientists researching love have nicknamed such couples “swans.” This is because the couples with strong emotional ties that last for decades have similar mental patterning to certain animals that mate for life, such as swans. This pattern is also seen in grey foxes and voles, among others.

All previous studies of love and romance strongly contradict the latest findings. The traditional scientific view of love is that it blossoms in the early heady days of a new relationship. Then, about a year to a year and a quarter later it hits the first “fracture point” when the excitement starts to fade.

The next “fracture point” comes around three years, followed by the infamous so-called “seven year itch.” The term has even had a movie made about it, starring Marilyn Monroe.

The next “fracture point” is the fatal one, according to the traditional view. That’s when all feelings of love and tenderness have vanished. This happens at the ten year mark, apparently. All that’s left then is an acceptance of the situation and probably some residual affection if you’re lucky.

However, it’s a field day for all philosophers, poets and song writers. They have always known that true love can never die. They have also maintained that love has its seat in the heart, though medical science has its doubts on this. Perhaps someday they will be proven right on this point too.

Arthur Aron, a psychologist at Stony Brook says, “The findings go against the traditional view of romance – that it drops off sharply in the first decade – but we are sure it’s real.” There are no doubt thousands of couples all over the world who are sure it’s real too. After all, they say love conquers all!

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