Why We Love - Time Magazine, January 17, 2008 An exerpt from the above article... Scent not only tells males which females are primed to conceive, but it also lets both sexes narrow their choices of potential partners. Among the constellation of genes that control the immune system are those known as the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), which influence tissue rejection. Conceive a child with a person whose MHC is too similar to your own, and the risk increases that the womb will expel the fetus. Find a partner with sufficiently different MHC, and you're likelier to carry a baby to term. Studies show that laboratory mice can smell too-similar MHC in the urine of other mice and will avoid mating with those individuals. In later work conducted at the University of Bern in Switzerland, human females were asked to smell T shirts worn by anonymous males and then pick which ones appealed to them. Time and again, they chose the ones worn by men with a safely different MHC. And if the smell of MHC isn't a deal maker or breaker, the taste is. Saliva also contains the compound, a fact that Haselton believes may partly explain the custom of kissing, particularly those protracted sessions that stop short of intercourse. "Kissing," she says simply, "might be a taste test." Precise as the MHC-detection system is, it can be confounded. One thing that throws us off the scent is the birth-control pill. Women who are on the Pill--which chemically simulates pregnancy--tend to choose wrong in the T-shirt test. When they discontinue the daily hormone dose, the protective smell mechanism kicks back in. "A colleague of mine wonders if the Pill may contribute to divorce," says Wysocki. "Women pick a husband when they're on birth control, then quit to have a baby and realize they've made a mistake." So there's another warning to give women when counseling on birth control pills!  Besides recommending not to take birth control if you've got vaginal bleeding of unknown cause, a history of thromboembolic events, a history of endometrial cancer, etc...there's a new contraindication!! Perhaps this also explains the high incidence of divorce these days. And unfortunately, as scientific as the article gets as to the many proposed mechanisms and reasons for romance and love...as I'm finding out more and more and have known before...there really is no logic and thus no scientific explanation to why we fall in love and with who. Interesting read though! Especially on the heels of Valentine's Day...hmmm...so who else hates Valentine's Day this year? *waves both arms high up in the air* haha | 
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