Ah... love! What a wonderful thing. The meaning of life itself, isn't
it? Artists, poets and play writers have made the greatest progress in
humanity's understanding of love. So what's love doing in a science
column? Well lately scientists have managed to get themselves included
in the restricted group of love-explainers.

Scientists now think that love is nothing else but a series of
chemical reactions in people.

If you are in love with someone then you are also in love with that
person's genes subconsciously. More surprising still - if there is
anything more astonishing that this last 'fact' - is that not only do
your eyes work when you see a perfect partner but so does your
nose - and, of course, heart. Smell, apparently, plays an important role in the attraction between two persons. You are, in fact, attracted to a
person who is more like your own parents not only physically speaking
but also olfactory speaking. This chosen person of your heart is also
the chosen person of your nose!

Many external appearances will prove that you are well and truly in
love. Flushed cheeks, racing heart beat and clammy hands are only a
few examples. 'Inside' the body, though, there are other definite signs
that Cupid has passed by.

Helen Fisher of Rutgers University is one of the most respected
researchers in the field. She proposed that people fall in love in 3
different stages.

• Stage 1: Lust
  
  Lust is driven by the sex hormones testosterone and oestrogen.
  Testosterone, as many readers might have thought, is not only found in
  men. In fact it plays a major role in women's sex drive.
• Stage 2: Attraction
  
  This second stage is the classic love part often featured in romantic
  comedies. When people are in stage 2, they lose their appetite and
  often need less sleep. They instead find it more interesting to
  daydream about you-know-who.
  
  During this stage, the body secretes a number of hormones. One of
  these hormones is serotonin. It is one of love's most important
  chemicals and it may actually make people temporarily insane.
• Stage 3: Attachment
  
  If you have the guts to talk to that person, then you may well have
  entered this stage. If a relationship is going to last, this
  attachment process is the last stage.
  
  Attachment is a longer lasting commitment and is the bond that
  keeps couples together when they start having children.

But is all this stuff really important at all? Scientists think
so. By understanding the paths that regulate social attachments,
scientists might be able to deal with some people's inability to form
relationships. Some people even see love being guaranteed in the
future generation because love will be chemically provided: in
pills.

Well when we say that love is madness, it's sort of true literally
speaking. And if you still doubt this, that hormone serotonin is
there, somewhere in your body, to prove it.

Other science issues (not too complicated don't you worry)
can be found at:

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