Science Section: Day 7 [The Lover]
When two people seem to have romance brewing, sometimes people say that they have ‘good chemistry’. Inaho would probably say that their biological chemicals are in fact reacting – which is less romantic, but scientifically accurate!
Is love nothing more than a bunch of hormones being released? Science has no answer to that. But what science can tell us is what hormones are released during the different stages of ‘falling in love’.
The first stage can be called ‘lust’, and is driven by the sex hormones testosterone (men) and oestrogen (women). They’re what make you take a look at someone and think “now there’s someone I want to get closer to”.
The second stage is ‘attraction’. Adrenaline causes you to sweat, your heart to race and your mouth to go dry – the butterflies in the stomach when you see your crush. Adrenaline activates the stress response, increasing levels of adrenalin and cortisol in the blood. that sharpens your focus and makes you feel like you don’t need as much food or sleep. All the better to keep you on track with wooing the apple of your eye! And hopefully notice if they’re not reciprocating so you can cut your losses. Dopamine gives you a feeling of pleasure when you think about your beloved, the chemical ‘rewarding’ you for interacting with them so that you keep them on your mind. Serotonin also causes you to want to be around them more.
The third stage is attachment. Oxytocin is the star here – it makes you feel a strong bond to another individual and isn’t always romantic; parental bonds also rely on this hormone. It’s released when you cuddle… or do other things that involve close bodily contact.
All of these chemicals work to make love feel addictive and turn it into a powerful, mysterious force that seems have the power to make people crazy; it sort of does, since the hormones change the way you think and act.
And it’s not all chemistry! Other factors can make people seem more attractive and there’s science behind that as well. For example, people with more symmetrical appearances are more attractive, since it’s a way to judge how good their genes are – diseases can disfigure faces and affect growth, so it’s an indication of a good immune system.
Another way the immune system plays into helping us sniff out our match is that it… makes us literally sniff out our match. There’s theories that humans can smell out people with ‘complimentary’ immune systems – that’s to say that people will seem more attractive if they happen to fill the gaps in your own armour. This also plays into the idea that ‘opposites attract’. Therefore, hypothetically, it’s more likely that you’ll fall in love with someone very different from you.
So… who would be more attractive to Inaho Kaizuka?
An intelligent Japanese girl who is a good Kataphrakt pilot and an academic high achiever?
A Martian princess who cares deeply for both the people of Vers and Mars and wishes idealistically for peace?
Or is there someone else who could be better described as his ‘opposite in every way’?
That concludes the last science section of Inaweek. The organisers sincerely hope that your all enjoyed the celebrations and wish you a great year.
