Announcements

Hi group!

We have our final NE discussion this week, and the topic is love! Watch this TED Talk by Helen Fisher on the science of love:

http://www.ted.com/talks/helen_fisher_studies_the_brain_in_love.html

The talk is pretty superficial - Fisher mostly talks about which areas she has seen "light up" in an fMRI of people who are in love, or people who have just been dumped. However, some points she brings up are great for our discussion. Consider the following questions:

If there is a scientific basis of love, does that make love less "real?" Do you believe that Fisher's methods of fMRI scanning and internet surveys are a legitimate way to study the biological basis of love? Fisher says that she put couples who claimed to have been in love for 25 years in the fMRI machine and she saw that they "were not lying" about being love. Do you think science could PROVE whether or not someone is in love? What are your thoughts on Fisher's comparison of love to a drug addiction, considering the possible increased activity in the VTA of people who are in love?

Responses due Sunday, December 4th.