Good news for romantics: scientists claim that true love does, in fact, exist. A study of brain scans showed that certain couples can maintain their early sparks of romance and excitement over 20 years.
According to John Harlow and Brendan Montague of the Times Online, scientists studied the brain scans of couples who had been together for 20 years vs. couples who had recently fallen in love and found that “one in 10 of the mature couples exhibited the same chemical reactions when shown photographs of their loved ones as people commonly do in the early stages of a relationship.” These couples were dubbed “swans” by the scientists, because they showed the same type of “mate for life” mentality as such animals as swans, foxes and, if Phoebe Buffay is to be believed, lobsters.
I have met a few “Swans” in my day: couples in their 40’s, 50’s, and even 80’s who seem to fall more and more in love with one another as time goes on. So the good news, I suppose, is that one in 10 couples has a shot at being a “Swan” couple. The bad news, however, is that 9 out of 10 don’t fall into that category. Bud don’t despair, doves! All of us, I’m sure, are swans in some way or another. My love affair with Strawberry Frosted Pop Tarts began in 1987, and continues to this day, 22 years later! Just the smell of a Strawberry Frosted Pop Tart makes me all happy and warm inside. And if that’s not true love, I don’t know what is.
Scientists Discover True Love [Times Online]