• Question: what is love

    Asked by IanHardt to Freddie, Jena, Kirsten, Kon, Zarah on 7 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Kirsten Brandt

      Kirsten Brandt answered on 7 Nov 2016:

      As far as I know, love is the way you feel when your brain releases the hormone oxytocin. See for example http://www.yourhormones.info/Hormones/Oxytocin.aspx
      This usually happens when you see or touch someone that you like, and makes you like them even more. The brain releases extra high levels of oxytocin in the brain of mothers giving birth, so they love the baby as soon as they see it. This is the same for humans and animals, a sheep loves its lamb in the same way as human parents love their children.

    • Photo: Jennifer Bates

      Jennifer Bates answered on 8 Nov 2016:

      As Kirsten says, there is a lot of science behind the emotion of love, and the guys in the Brain Zone may be able to give you some awesome brain scans.

      Love functions to facilitate the continuation of the species, but I’d add that the chemicals involved in love also function to ensure individuals work together against predators, reduce the chances of disease transmission that could be risky to childbirth or act as part of strategies likely to increase fidelity. It is extremely pronounced in humans, and some aspects of love in humans such as mother-child bonding could be linked to evolution, like the increase in time that human children are dependant on the parent.

    • Photo: Konstantinos Drousiotis

      Konstantinos Drousiotis answered on 11 Nov 2016:

      Baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me ..No more lol

      You’d find out soon!

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