Lust and Love: Is it more than chemistry?

by Gabriele Froböse, Rolf Froböse

Overview

Philosophers have mused over them, poets have written about them and musicians have sung about them. Love, desire and passion will at some point touch everyone's life - yet they are little understood and some of the oldest mysteries of mankind. Why do people fall in love and what is love anyway? What makes people attractive? How do these emotions tie in with our physiology and how we have evolved? Lust and Love: Is it more than Chemistry? provides answers to some of these questions through the eyes of science. It takes a light hearted and entertaining approach in explaining the current scientific knowledge of why people are attracted to each other, from the first moments of meeting to how emotions change in a long lasting partnership. The book covers research from the fields of chemistry, biochemistry, neurology, psychiatry, psychology, physics and medicine while using the love story of a fictional couple to take the reader on a journey explaining the science. Additional topics on the 'tools of attraction', including the history of the lipstick, and the development of perfumes and aphrodisiacs, provide an absorbing insight into the subject. Medical treatments and conditions including contraception, erectile dysfunction and the climacteric phenomenon are also discussed. This engaging and unusual book is ideal for anyone interested in the science behind love, desire and passion.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781782625506
Publisher:	RSC
Publication date:	11/09/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	181
File size:	2 MB

Read an Excerpt

Lust and Love

Is It More Than Chemistry?

---

By Gabriele Froböse, Rolf Froböse, Michael Gross

The Royal Society of Chemistry

Copyright © 2006 The Royal Society of Chemistry
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-78262-550-6

---

CHAPTER 1

Mysteries of the Emotional Rollercoaster

Lovers close their eyes when they kiss, because they want to see with their hearts. Daphne du Maurier (Writer, 1907–1989)

1 A DAY IN THE LIFE OF BIANCA AND MICHAEL

Never before has Michael arrived at an airport so early. Today is a very special day. With a quick look at the monitor he finds out that the transatlantic flight he is waiting for will arrive at gate B14 in an hour.

On board that flight is Bianca, to whom he has been happily engaged for six months. Bianca, a medical student, has spent a large part of the summer holidays with relatives in the US, where she had an internship at a hospital, and she must have had many interesting experiences. For Michael, however, an IT engineer for a European electronics company, the separation appeared like an eternity. While he always kept himself busy, he hates to think of the long weekends spent alone.

"Well, in that case, I could have taken it slowly," he mused by himself, "but never mind, better to be early at the airport than late." The thought of getting stuck in traffic, while Bianca, with her suitcases in hand, might be looking for him in vain, makes him uncomfortable.

Strolling through the arrivals area, Michael checks one more time which exit Bianca will be taking coming from B14. He realises how his inner tension relaxes gradually and makes way for deeply felt joy. To pass the time, he takes a seat in the cafe called "Zeppelin," allowing him a direct view at the monitor displaying the arrivals.

"I'll have a chicken sandwich and a cup of coffee," he tells the waiter and reaches for a newspaper. He scans the headlines, but only skips diagonally through the articles. He finds it hard to concentrate today. Only a feature about San Francisco holds his attention. "Her relatives live in Monterey," he recalls. "Knowing her, she hasn't been content with seeing the photos of Golden Gate Bridge."

While Michael is busy eating, the monitor updates the "arrivals" information. The plane arrives a little earlier after all and will land in a few minutes, he realises. Nervously, he folds up the paper and signals the waiter. After paying the bill, he walks straight to the exit.

Excitedly, Michael observes the sliding door opening and closing at short intervals. Tanned tourists heavily loaded with suitcases and bags struggle through the waiting crowd. Businessmen with briefcases hurry past him, while a Japanese man is upset, apparently looking for somebody, and a group of three Arabs enjoy their small talk. Michael notices these figures only marginally, as he would the extras in a movie.

Suddenly his expression relaxes – Bianca comes through the door. She spots him immediately, leaves the trolley with the suitcase behind and runs towards him. Speechlessly, they sink into each other's arms. When they kiss, Bianca has tears of joy in her eyes. Michael, noticing the familiar smell of her body, has only one thought on his mind: "We belong together!"

This short scene from the life of two young people should sound familiar to many of us. The unrest, tension, excitement, combined with longing, and then the unlimited joy after the encounter – who hasn't experienced this rollercoaster of emotions in similar situations?

2 WHY OUR BRAIN PRODUCES "BUTTERFLIES"

Even though those two may be under the impression that the centre of their love is located in the heart, in reality it is only the brain that is responsible for the heartbeats and the "butterflies" in the tummy. "We do not think with the heart, but with the brain," as the Greek physician Hippocrates, who lived on the island of Kos, stated around 400 BC – but he was way ahead of his time (Figure 1). Even though the organ which the Greek called "en kephale" (located in the head) had fascinated humankind from the beginnings, it was a long way to the understanding that only the brain is the source of our thoughts, feelings, sensations, and ultimately our consciousness.

Even our ancestors in prehistoric times must have been wondering about the source and location of consciousness. Thus, people in ancient cultures saw the head as the dwelling of evil spirits. As we know from skeletons found, some people of that era had holes carved in their skulls – apparently with the aim of curing maladies like "obsession," although the success must have been dubious.

Greek anatomists like Anaxagoras looked for the location of the mind in the human body and believed that the cavities in the brain contained the fluid which represented the breath of the mind. Around 500 BC, the Greek Alcmaeon of Croton conducted sections of animals and found out that nerves connect the sensory organs to the brain. He concluded that the brain contains the centre of sensory perception and thinking. However, he considered the brain to be a gland that secretes thoughts like the tear glands produce tears.

The Ancient Egyptians also connected human thought processes with the brain. Herophilus (335 BC) and Erasistratos (300 BC) were the first to break the taboo against dissections of human bodies. They found that people who had certain nerve paths cut, were no longer able to see. Thus they developed the concept of an interconnected system, of which the brain was the centre. To them, the brain was the seat of the soul and the central command of all thought processes.

The Roman physician Claudius Galenus had the opportunity to gain insights from numerous injured gladiators. With this work, he helped to establish the concept developed by the Egyptians that the brain is the centre of human thinking and memory. Aristotle, in contrast, held very different views. Unlike Hippocrates, he insisted on the view – still favoured by the romantically inclined – that human beings think with their hearts.

Eventually, the chamber model of Anaxagoras, which was improved over the centuries, remained victorious. Mediaeval philosophers turned it into a very vivid model, in which the first chamber of the brain serves perception and insight. The second chamber, according to the model, is for knowledge and judgement, while the third chamber is in charge of recording the results of the previous two chambers.

Even around 1490, Renaissance's all-round genius, Leonardo da Vinci, drafted a preliminary "map of the mind," which associated different mental functions with various areas of the brain divided in three parts.

Although Leonardo's sketches of the brain are today only of historical interest, making place for a much more refined picture of the brain and its functions, our most intimate organ has yet to reveal many of its secrets. Even today, many aspects of brain function appear as blank spots on the map of scientific knowledge.

The French philosopher René Descartes (1596–1650) had a much more technical view, comparing the brain with a kind of machine. He imagined that a substance contained in the windings of the brain, which he called "pneuma," is put under pressure by the excitation arising from the sensory organs and directed into the tube-like nerves by the pineal gland. Thus, the pneuma would travel to the muscles and make them move.

Franz Josef Gall (1758–1828) stirred up his contemporaries by asserting that certain actions of the brain can be felt through the skull. But only Paul Broca (1824–1880) and Carl Wernicke (1848–1905) provided scientific evidence showing that brain functions can be assigned to specific regions. For this purpose, the researchers had investigated a number of patients with language disorders. Between 1900 and 1920, Cecile and Oskar Vogt, along with Korbinian Brodman led this work to its logical consequence and drew the first detailed "architectural" maps of the cortex.

2.1 Mapping the Brain is Like Decoding the Genome

While the earlier thinkers believed that complex processes like learning or memory can each be confined to one particular area of the brain, today's scientists assume that each brain activity involves various groups of cells that may be distant in space but are linked by nerve fibres. Researchers led by Karl Zilles at the Jülich Research Centre (Germany) have committed themselves to the task of localising these nodes and networks. Their ultimate goal – the complete mapping of all brain functions – is an extremely ambitious one and could be compared to the decoding of the human genome. It is already becoming obvious that the results of this research will throw up a multitude of new questions, which will keep generations of scientists busy.

It is beyond doubt that the brain is our central command which governs all body functions. This applies not only to simple behavioural patterns like eating, sleeping, drinking and heat regulation, but includes the more highly developed abilities of the human mind such as its gift for culture, music, art, science, and language. But it was only recently that researchers obtained insights into the molecular processes in the brain and decoded the first building blocks and processes of a hitherto unknown chemistry which controls all our thought processes – be they conscious or unconscious – and thus our entire emotional world including love. When Bianca and Michael ran towards each other at the airport, when they hugged and cuddled each other, these events triggered a whole cascade of chemical reactions in their brains.

2.2 The Universe Inside Bianca's and Michael's Heads

And yet, one should not imagine the brains of our protagonists as a simple chemical reactor. Because the brain would be completely useless if it wasn't connected with the entire human body with an unimaginably complex network of wires. A mesh of around 380,000 nerve fibres, which would span the distance to the Moon if they were aligned end to end, ensures the smooth flow of information between the central command and all other areas of the human body.

It may sound unbelievable, but the hardware in our heads consists of around 100 billion nerve cells, and is thus comparable to the number of stars in the Milky Way. If we were to calculate the number of connections between these cells that would be possible in theory, the result would be absolutely mindboggling, as there are more possibilities than there are atoms in the entire Universe!

Werner Stangl, a professor at the institute for pedagogics and psychology of the Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Austria, goes even further and visualizes this unimaginably large number thus: "If the brain contains at least 15 billion cells, their connective possibilities could in theory store 210 billion pieces of information. If we wanted to write down this number at the rate of one figure per second, it would take us 90 years."

This unique architecture allows the brain to do more than simply represent the information it acquires. Unlike a camera or a tape recorder, it has ingenious ways of data reduction. In other words, the brain separates unnecessary junk data by interpreting the signals recorded from the outside world within fractions of a second, and summarising them to form a personalised world. While Michael was waiting for Bianca at the airport, his brain received an incredible one million times more information than his consciousness processed.

In order to better understand this remarkable process, which no computer can match, we shall have a closer look at the human brain. If Bianca and Michael represent the statistical average, her brain weighs around 1245 grams, and his 1375 grams. The largest part is the cerebrum, which has the size of a grapefruit. It consists of two different halves, the left and right hemispheres, which are, among other things, in charge of the physical functions of the body half located on the opposite side. The hemispheres are covered by the multiple folds and creases of the cerebral cortex. The cortex enables us to organise, remember, understand, to communicate and be creative, to invent and value things. The most complicated and remarkable part of the brain however, is the pea-sized hypothalamus, the "brain" of the brain, so to speak. It controls basic needs like eating, drinking, sleep, but also body temperature, pulse rate, hormones and sexuality. By a combination of electrical and chemical messages, the hypothalamus also controls the pituitary gland. The latter is the most important gland of our central control station and controls our body with the help of hormones – chemical messengers which reach their target cells via the blood stream (see Chapter 5).

2.3 Think Before You Act! – Order Refused, Says the Spinal Cord

Together with the brain, the spinal cord represents the central nervous system, or CNS. The spinal cord serves as a cable for communications, enabling messages from the brain to be transmitted to the rest of the body at high speed. However, it also acts independently in controlling a number of reflexes.

This will remind many readers of the proverbial knee-jerk, which a neurologist can trigger with a tap to the tendon just under the kneecap. The tapping causes a brief extension of the extensor muscle, which in turn leads to its contraction. Many who have felt the hammer of a physician will wonder what this reflex is for. Nature very wisely gave us this reflex when we started to walk upright, because without it we would not be able to stand straight without our knees buckling up every now and again. For the neurologist, in turn, testing the knee-jerk is an important diagnostic tool, as its absence could point to a serious disorder of the CNS.

"Think before you act" – may be a useful instruction generally, but it does not apply to reflexes. They represent instant measures, which are immediately put into action by the spinal cord without consultation of the brain. For example, when you accidentally touch a hot object and your hand withdraws automatically with lightning speed, although pain and realisation of the danger only register later. This withdrawal reflex is completely unconscious. With the help of receptors in the hand, switchable neurons in the spinal cord, and motor neurons leading to the upper arm muscles, the worst outcome can be avoided.

A cross section of the spinal cord appears as a round disk the width of a finger. Its core consists of the so-called grey matter, shaped like a butterfly. It is composed of closely packed nerve cell bodies, and its outer coat consists of nerve cell fibres, the so-called white matter.

Depending on the overall height of a person, the spinal cord can measure up to around 45 centimetres, but on average it weighs only 25 grams. It begins at the extended marrow of the brain and runs through the channel of the vertebrae through to the height of the second lumbar vertebra. At regular intervals, pairs of nerve roots branch out from the marrow on both sides. The dorsal root, i.e. the part of the cord oriented towards the back, carries impulses from everywhere in the body to the grey matter of the spinal cord. Conversely, the ventral (i.e. oriented towards the front) nerve root, the motor neuron, directs impulses towards the muscles. Only a few millimetres beyond the point where they leave the spinal cord, the roots recombine to form the so-called spinal nerves. These emerge from the vertebral channel via the intervertebral foramen, i.e. the holes between the vertebrae.

In the neck and lumbar region, the spinal cord becomes much thicker. In these areas, many nerve fibres emerge, leading towards the arms and legs, respectively. Even though the spinal cord itself ends at the height of the second lumbar vertebra, the nerve fibres from the lower part of the spinal cord run further down within the vertebral channel. They are combined to a thick bundle of fibres, which by and by, indvidual nerve fibres emerge between the vertebrae. This bundle is reminiscent of a horse's tail and has therefore been named with the Latin word for it, "cauda equina."

3 MICHAEL'S BRAIN, A DREAM SUPER COMPUTER

What happened in Michael's head while he was waiting for Bianca at the airport? Hundreds of people, the restaurant, check-in desks, monitors, announcements ... the entire hectic atmosphere of a busy airport confronted him with an avalanche of optical information, which was duly recorded by his eyes and triggered light-sensitive nerve cells, which in turn converted it into electrical impulses. Then the information arrived at the visual cortex, where it was subjected to a thorough analysis. During the selection process, Michael's visual cortex packaged the electrical impulses into concrete information, which is transmitted to the temporal lobe, where for the first time, it may or may not be recorded by his memory.

But the odyssey of information flow did not end there. From the temporal lobe it proceeded into the depths of his brain, arriving first in the structures of the frontal lobes. There, a further filtering of the data took place, after which the selected and evaluated information was cleared for forwarding to the entire cerebral cortex. Only this continuous to and thro of thousands of information details in the "circuits" of Michael's brain enabled him to crystallise his personal world out of the information overload and to locate Bianca in the crowd of strangers. At the same time, his motor cortex enabled him to make the unmistakable signs of recognition (e.g. the joy in his face) visible.

(Continues...)

---

Excerpted from Lust and Love by Gabriele Froböse, Rolf Froböse, Michael Gross. Copyright © 2006 The Royal Society of Chemistry. Excerpted by permission of The Royal Society of Chemistry.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Mysteries of the Emotional Rollercoaster;
1: A Day in the Life of Bianca and Michael - Why Our Brain Produces ''Butterflies'';
2.1: Mapping the Brain is Like Decoding the Genome;
2.2: The Universe Inside Bianca's and Michael's Heads;
2.3: Think Before You Act! - Order Refused, Says the Spinal Cord;
3: Michael's Brain, a Dream Super Computer;
3.1: Is Our Brain a Parallel Computer?;
3.2: Right or Left? Our Split Brain has to Make a Decision;
3.3: Kissers Turn Right (Probably);
3.4: Can Thoughts be Measured?;
3.5: A Formula 1 Racing Car in Michael's Brain;
4: The Cell as a Chemical Reactor;
4.1: The First Encounter With Bianca: Michael's Ion Channels ''Remember'';
4.2: Michael has Localised Bianca: The ''Chemistry of the Moment'';
4.3: Michael's and Bianca's Emotions are Mainly Happening at the Front of the Right Hemisphere;
4.4: ''Squids'' Made of Niobium as a Compass of our Thoughts;
5: Outbursts of Emotion Set Molecular ''Submarines'' Going;
5.1: Michael's Love Triggers an Avalanche of Signalsin the Brain;
6: Neurotransmitters - Guardians of Emotions and Sleep;
6.1: Is Michael's Brain Squandering Energy?;
6.2: Bianca Likes Glucose - Her Brain Too;
Chapter 2: Two Networks of Nerves;
1: Hugs and Heartbeats;
1.1: Control Over Sex and Senses;
1.2: Team Work;
1.3: No Erection without the Cooperation of Vegetative and Somatic System;
Chapter 3: Signals of Love;
1: Love at First Sight?;
1.1: Shy Men Avoid Eye Contact-Women Look for it;
2: Anatomy of a Flirt;
3: The American Kama Sutra: Pulling Tactics;
Chapter 4: Tied Up with a Double Helix;
1: All in Our Genes?;
2: From Primordial Soup to DNA;
3: Chemistry: The Seed of Life, Mind, and Emotions;
4: Genes are Like Men;
4.1: Why does Michael have Dark Hair? Sugar and Phosphate Molecules Provide the Answer;
5: Inherited Genes: A Surprise Present;
Chapter 5: Hormones - The Body's Snailmail;
1: Blame it on the Adrenaline;
1.1: Adrenaline and Co.: the Secret Rulers of Our Emotional World;
1.2: Hormone Deficiency in the Brain can Trigger a Rollercoaster of Emotions;
1.3: Checks and Balances;
1.4: Exultation and Melancholy;
Chapter 6: Estrogen and Testosterone - Driving Our Emotional Lives;
1: The Secret Entanglement of Body and Soul;
2: Bianca Knows the Story but can't Fight her Feelings;
2.1: During Puberty, the Countdown of the Body's Chemistry Begins;
2.2: Men are Much Less Complicated, or are They?;
2.3: Testosterone - A Versatile Hormone;
3: Love is the Best Medicine;
3.1: Domestic Disputes Weaken the Immune System;
Chapter 7: Oxytocin - the ''Amuse-Gueule'' Among Hormones;
1: When Michael Caressed Bianca, her ''Chemical Factory'' Produced Oxytocin;
1.1: Keen on Cuddling after Orgasm? It's all in the Chemistry!;
1.2: From Moscow with Love: Oxytocin and the Pavlov Effect;
1.3: Why Women Pick up the Phone When They are Stressed;
1.4: Small Molecule, Big Effect;
1.5: Men and Women, Be Tolerant!;
1.6: Social Behaviour Benefits, Too.;
1.7: Oxytocin and Vasopressin - Chemical Compass Needles for Partnership and Fidelity;
Chapter 8: Dopamine - Casanova's Double-Edged ''Secret Weapon'';
1: A Hormone that makes us Euphoric;
1.1: Excess Amounts of Dopamine can Lead to Pathological Addiction to Love;
1.2: Male Rats Show a Pronounced ''Coolidge Effect'';
Chapter 9: Serotonin - the Happy Messenger in the Blood;
1: A Moody Messenger;
1.1: Sometimes Michael Craves Chocolate;
1.2: Pathological Love - Linked to Serotonin Deficiency;
1.3: Microparanoia - The Love Sickness;
Chapter 10: Phenylethylamine - the Stuff that Makes the Soul Jubilate;
1: Welcome to the Rollercoaster of Emotions;
1.1: The Elevator to Cloud 9 Smells of Fish;
Chapter 11: The Chemistry of Birth Control;
1: How about the Pill?;
1.1: Birth Control - Almost a Never Ending Story;
1.2:Just Crouch Down and have a Good Sneeze;
1.3: A Big Leap for the Biology of Small Eggs;
1.4: Why is There No Pill for the Male?;
Chapter 12: Menopause: When the Hormone Supply Falters;
1: Will You Always Love Me?;
1.1: Is Hormone Replacement Therapy the Way Out?;
1.2: Drugs from Nature's Treasure Trove;
1.3: Not only Women;
Chapter 13: Endogenous Opiates - the Chemistry of Euphoria;
1: It's not only the Adrenaline that Gets Michael and Bianca Started;
1.1: Is Our Brain a Poppy Flower?;
1.2: Researchers Go the Whole Hog;
1.3: Long Time no See?;
2: Endorphins - An Emergency Centre of the Body?;
2.1: Mice Turn into Little Cowards;
2.2: Faith is the Best Medicine - Endorphins and The Placebo Effect;
3: Endorphins in Pain Research;
3.1: Opiates Linked to Near Death Experience?;
3.2: Hugging the Pain Away;
3.3: Immediately After Birth, Mother and Baby are full of Opiates;
3.4: Breastfeeding Makes Babies High;
4: Naloxone - Opponent of the Opiates;
4.1: Without Endorphins, The World of Intensive Emotions Remains Locked;
5: Natural Opiates;
6: Synthetic Opioids;
6.1: Synthetic Opiates were Meant to Knock Out Terrorists;
7: Are Our Opiate Receptors a Blessing or a Curse of Nature?;
Chapter 14: Chemistry for the Eye of the Beholder - Lipsticks through the Ages;
1: Bianca's Red Lips get Michael all Excited;
1.1: In the Ice Age, Ochre was all the Rage;
1.2: A Magic Wand of Cosmetics - Thanks to Chemistry;
Chapter 15: Secret Scents of Seduction;
1: Come on let's Go;
1.1: From the ''Dialogue with the Gods'' to Modern Perfume;
1.2: Top Notes, Middle Notes, and Base Notes: An Excursion into the Chemistry of Fragrances;
1.3: A Frenchman had a Nose for it;
1.4: Animal Instincts;
1.5: Take a Deep Breath - How Our Sense of Smell Works;
1.6: Is the Gradual Loss of Our Sense of Smell an Error of Evolution?;
1.7: Show Your True Colours and I Tell You Which Fragrance You Prefer;
Chapter 16: Pheromones - Words in the Dialogue of Fragrances;
1: Do Pheromones make Humans Horny, Too?;
1.1: A Relic from Earlier Days of Evolution?;
1.2: The Truffle Pig in us Decides Whether We Get on with Each Other;
1.3: Men are Smellier Than Women;
1.4: Napoleon to His Wife: ''Don't Wash, Will Arrive in Three Days.'';
1.5: Copulins - the ''Chemical Weapons'' of Women;
1.6: Artificial Pheromones in Perfumes make Men Keen to Cuddle;
1.7: ''I Don't Like Your Smell, Because Our Genes are Too Similar'';
Chapter 17: The ABC of Aphrodisiacs;
1: A Little Help from My Friends;
1.1: E is for Eggs;
1.2: G is for Gele¦ e Royal and Ginseng;
1.3: L is for Licorice;
1.4: O is for Oysters;
1.5: P is for Papaverine Injections;
1.6: R is for Rhinoceros Horn;
1.7: S is for Spanish Fly;
1.8: T is for Tiririca;
1.9: V is for Vitamin E;
1.10: Y is for yohimbine;
Chapter 18: Viagra&Co;
1: A Growing Problem;
1.1: The Discovery of Viagra;
1.2: The Penis as a Book-Keeper;
1.3: Viagra - Just What the Doctor Ordered?;1.4: Potent Drugs Fight Impotence;
Chapter 19: Epilogue - Returning from the Airport;
1: The Important Thing is That The Chemistry Works - The Rest Remains a Miracle;
Further Reading;
Subject Index

Editorial Reviews

I found much in the book to interest me, particularly the section on the hormones oxytocin and dopamine.Useful as a source of chemical anecdotes on the theme of love and human sex.

May 2007 (Tristram Wyatt) Chemistry World

Engaging and unusual book

20th November 2006 The Telegraph

Its strength is in the way it brings together an eclectic mix of material in a concise, coherent manner.The content is so absorbing......few conceptual challenges that a good A-level student could not handle.

2007 (Mike Shipton) Education in Chemistry