Possible Love Molecule?

aychamo writes "Psychiatrists from Pavia University have associated early romantic love with a biochemical known as nerve growth factor (NGF). Apparently, levels of NGF in the bloodstream were significantly higher in subjects who were in the early stages of romance than individuals not in a relationship. Interestingly, "subjects in love who--after 12-24 months--maintained the same relationship but were no longer in the same mental state to which they had referred during the initial evaluation" did not have elevated NGF levels."

Comments

Ah, the bloodstream.

[dirtsurfer]

For the first few months the molecule proliferates throughout the body as NGF phase 1, also known as the "New Girl Friend" molecule. After a set period of time, it transmutes into NGF phase 2, known as "Noticably Getting Fatter". This phase change causes a dramatic decrease in the desire to have sexual intercourse and initiate conversations, eventually leading to the end of the relationship.
The cycle may then begin a new with a new parter.

News for Joe Blow. Stuff that's wrong.

[Seehund]

Why does Slashduh keep insisting on trying to report on the life sciences when it (the editors and story submitters) are so obviously clueless about the topic?

To begin with, why the fuck is there a link to totally idiotic misinterpretations in the popular mainstream media instead of a link to an abstract of the original article in Journal of Psychoneuroendocrinology?

Needless to say, the Yahoo!/Reuters article was awful.
"The powerful emotions that bowl over new lovers are triggered by a molecule known as nerve growth factor (NGF), according to Pavia University researchers."

No! The researchers said no such thing at all!
They said that they have shown that there's a high plasma level of NGF in subjects who have recently fallen in love. That is all, and it's not surprising or ground breaking. We already know that love (and other emotions) are associated with varying levels of growth factors in general and neurotrophins in particular, along with a host of other changes in our chemistry. For example, here is a study showing that kissing affects immune responses by way of NGF. NGF is no "love molecule" any more than it is a "stress molecule" or a "healing molecule". NGF does not cause love or kissing! Quit being sensationalistic retards!

Slashdot supposedly reports "news for nerds, stuff that matters". Then why is it OK to report laymen's misconceptions about "love molecules", when it would be unacceptable to propagate e.g. laymen's misconceptions in the mainstream media about "hackers", or calling a harddisk a "virus device" (only because it can also store computer viruses)?
Why is it OK to post biology news from Yahoo! instead of from the original source, when a submission containing just as vague, dumbed down and incorrect news from Yahoo! about e.g. the Linux kernel would never get published here (other than for comedic effect)?

I humbly suggest that Slashduh should quit reporting on other sciences than technology. You'll obviously never get it right or even know what actually is the stuff that matters in those news.