Hollowpoint
Master Don Juan
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http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/05/06/offbeat.love.reut/index.html
Love a 'gender-bending experience'
LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Falling in love -- that crazy, blissful feeling -- causes gender-bender changes in men and women's testosterone levels.
A study by an Italian researcher shows that when couples fall in love their testosterone levels alter. It falls in men and rises in women so they become more like each other.
"Men who were in love had lower levels of the male sex hormone testosterone -- linked to aggression and sex drive -- than other men," New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday.
"Love-struck women, in contrast, had higher levels of testosterone than their counterparts."
Donatella Marazziti, a scientist at the University of Pisa in Italy, made the discovery after studying 24 people in love.
"It's as if nature wants to eliminate what can be different in men and women, because it's important to survive at this stage," she said.
Not all scientists agree with Marazziti's interpretation of the results and some say changing testosterone levels could be a result of increased sexual activity.
But whatever the reason it doesn't last long.
Two years later, when the same people were tested again and were no longer madly in love, their testosterone levels were back to normal.
Love a 'gender-bending experience'
LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Falling in love -- that crazy, blissful feeling -- causes gender-bender changes in men and women's testosterone levels.
A study by an Italian researcher shows that when couples fall in love their testosterone levels alter. It falls in men and rises in women so they become more like each other.
"Men who were in love had lower levels of the male sex hormone testosterone -- linked to aggression and sex drive -- than other men," New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday.
"Love-struck women, in contrast, had higher levels of testosterone than their counterparts."
Donatella Marazziti, a scientist at the University of Pisa in Italy, made the discovery after studying 24 people in love.
"It's as if nature wants to eliminate what can be different in men and women, because it's important to survive at this stage," she said.
Not all scientists agree with Marazziti's interpretation of the results and some say changing testosterone levels could be a result of increased sexual activity.
But whatever the reason it doesn't last long.
Two years later, when the same people were tested again and were no longer madly in love, their testosterone levels were back to normal.