Roxy Music Vindicated

And you thought Brian Ferry et al. were exaggerating when they said "love is the drug and I need to score." Well, according to this story in the Times, our industrious scientists have essentially isolated the neurochemicals responsible for feelings of love. One of them is oxytocin (calm down, Mr. Limbaugh, I said oxy-tocin). In fact, the possibility of a pharmaceutical intervention (or "love drug") is well within our reach:

Although Dr. Young is not concocting any love potions (he’s looking for drugs to improve the social skills of people with autism and schizophrenia), he said there could soon be drugs that increase people’s urge to fall in love.

“It would be completely unethical to give the drug to someone else,” he said, “but if you’re in a marriage and want to maintain that relationship, you might take a little booster shot yourself every now and then. Even now it’s not such a far-out possibility that you could use drugs in conjunction with marital therapy.”

What's more fascinating about the Times story, however, is how much more interested the author (John Tierney) is in an antidote or vaccine for love. As Tierney notes,

A love vaccine seems simpler and more practical, and already there are some drugs that seem to inhibit people’s romantic impulses.

[...]

I doubt many people would want to permanently suppress love, but a temporary vaccine could come in handy.

Especially if you're ever cast in a movie alongside Angelina Jolie.

But seriously, this Tierney guy just won't let his love vaccine go. In another article published in the Times on the same day, Tierney speculates about the potential for a love vaccine, noting that many SSNRI antidepressants already seem to suppress romance and attachment. That's a nasty irony, eh?

How about you, commenters? Are you ready for your chemical romance?