starlight

(stahr-lIt) n. (1) light from the stars; (2) the special thing about someone that attracts you to him/her, ...the partner you once loved and cherished and saw as though saturated with starlight now feels more like a low-level infection...¹

They've finally done it. Scientists have figured out a way to understand starlight; such complex behavior as love can be explained as a mere series of chemical processes. Although the debate persists about whether love is really some crazy western-world-fabricated ideology introduced by some sick joint venture between 1-800-FLOWERS and deBeers, for all the lovelorn cynics out there, National Geographic's February cover story provides some scientific evidence supporting that hokey feeling we refer to as love. For instance, the physiological state of 'romantic love' (think horse-and-carriage ride through Central Park in the moonlight) can be explained as an imbalance of dopamine levels. Evidence for this is presented in an fMRI study by Dr. Helen Fisher of Rutgers University which showed increased activity in the caudate nucleus (site of an abundance of dopamine receptors). 'Attachment'--that duller stage in the relationship where the once fierce embrace fizzles into an affectionate bear hug--is characterized physiologically as a steady secretion of oxytocin.

Not to de-romanticize the notion of love, but really, in the end that feeling that we always struggle to find words to describe can in fact be described fairly well in chemical equations. It's only a matter of time before we find oxytocin and dopamine supplements right next to birth control pills in the medicine cabinet. But before you place your pre-orders at your local pharmacy, you may want to consider less invasive solutions like a course on kissing (?!) to revive that starlight.

¹Slater, Lauren. (2005). This thing called love. National Geographic, February, 39.