Is love at first sight real? Geneticists offer tantalizing clues
Tuesday, April 7, 2009 - 13:14
in Biology & Nature
Leave it to geneticists to answer a question that has perplexed humanity since the dawn of time: does love at first sight truly exist? According to a study published in the April 2009 issue of the journal Genetics, a team of scientists from the United States and Australia discovered that at the genetic level, some males and females are more compatible than others, and that this compatibility plays an important role in mate selection, mating outcomes, and future reproductive behaviors. In experiments involving fruit flies, the researchers found that before mating, females experience what amounts to "genetic priming," making them more likely to mate with certain males over others.