You can take a pill to lower your blood pressure, stay awake, pay attention, get an erection, and alleviate depression. But as of yet, there's nothing you can take for a turbulent love life. Maybe that will change in the near future.
Larry Young, a neuroscientist studying monogamous voles (cousins to the mouse), hypothesized that love can be boiled down to pure biochemistry, and as this science becomes better understood, we could see pharmaceuticals that allow us to manipulate our love lives.
Yound said, "…Our sexuality has evolved to stimulate the oxytocin system which helps create bonds," and if oxytocin could be altered in humans, it could change our desire for monogamy.
The theory goes likes this: if you popped a pill that suppressed oxytocin, you wouldn't still be lovesick over that guy you hooked up with last Fourth of July, and if oxytocin could be artificially stimulated, it could help rekindle the waning flame between you and your partner of 15 years.
It's all fun and a bit silly to ponder love potions, but I wonder if an oxytocin elevator in the wrong hands would be nothing more than a 21st century date rape drug.
– Wilbur
Picture Courtesy of perpetualocean.com
This makes me anxious. I don not want an awkward pudgy little man to put this in my drink and likewise cause me to make hot man-love with him.
I will be pouring my own drinks from this point onward.