HELEN FISHER
Humans experience love, lust, as well as attachments. How would you differentiate between the three?
I have figured out that we have evolved three basic drives for mating and reproduction: sex drive, feelings of intense romantic love, and feelings of deep attachment. Different brain systems run these three basic drives.
The sex drive is run largely by testosterone in both men and women. Romantic love, and we have proven this in brain study, is run largely by the dopamine system (dopamine is a monoamine neurotransmitter, which is also the chemical messenger, “communicating messages between nerve cells in brain and brain and the rest of the body”). The feelings of deep attachment are run by the oxytocin system (oxytocin is the hormone responsible for “key aspects of the female and male reproductive systems, including labour and delivery and lactation, as well as aspects of human behaviour”).
They have evolved for different reasons. The sex drive evolved to get people to look for partners. Romantic love enables you to focus your mating energy on just one person at a time. Feelings of deep attachment enable you to stick with this person at least long enough to have a child together and raise that child.
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THE CIRCULARITY ARGUMENT
A circular economy can help India achieve its developmental aspirations while following the low-carbon pathway. It will also help address the challenges of waste management, pollution and overexploitation of natural resources. Industries are already innovating to reuse high-volume wastes and have shown that the transition can usher in both environmental and financial windfalls
Banking on flawed drug voluntary licences
The Medicines Patent Pool is pushing for more VLs, but its bad deal with Novartis on a cancer drug shows the pitfalls
Lasting solutions
For the first time, the UN has recognised the role of indigenous communities in tackling aridity. A repository of traditional knowledge India has the wherewithal to lead the way
IMD at 150
India's journey into modern weather forecasting took a decisive turn 150 years ago with the establishment of India Meteorological Department during the British rule. The agency has come a long way since then, shaping the way the country predicts and responds to its diverse climate challenges
Every drop counts
In drought-prone Marathwada region, 14 villages have managed to counter water shortage by budgeting the resource
Threat to survival
Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary in Assam faces ecological challenges as railway electrification and hydrocarbon exploration endanger its fragile biodiversity
'Migration is going to be a battlefield'
AMITAV GHOSH is one of the foremost chroniclers of our times. His literary sojourn includes writings on topics that range from languages to climate change to human lives. His latest book, Wild Fictions, brings some of his works on these issues under one title. In a conversation with RAJAT GHAI, Ghosh shares his views on the future of human movement. Excerpts:
Face of future
California wildfires confirm forest fires are intensifying in a hotter world, emitting substantial amounts of greenhouse gases and reinforcing global warming
Friends of the forest
Residents of 30 villages in Uttarakhand establish a model for public participation in saving forests from wildfires
Climate-crazy playbook
Just hours after his second (and final) term began on January 20, US President Donald Trump unleashed 46 presidential actions. Several of these are centred on the US' climate commitments, energy transition, migration and trade policies, and are likely to have negative global implications
