Kissing holds the key to compatability
Boffins have spent a lot of time recently studying kissing – exploring the chemicals released (and even swapped) when girl and boy join lips. A study at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania found that the ‘trust hormone’ oxytocin rose in men during the act of kissing but, surprisingly, didn’t in women. The stress hormone cortisal, on the other hand, fell in both sexes.
Also this week, Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist at Rutgers University, made the claim that when a male and female kiss, the interchange of saliva is a means of enabling the woman to determine whether or not the man is a suitable sexual partner. “When you kiss you’re not just picking up if they’re a nice guy, you’re picking up if he’ll be a good father.”
