Tech & Science Daily podcast: Science of Love

Scientist’s tips to find your love match
circa 1950: A woman making home-made cards for her sweetheart on Saint Valentine's Day. (Photo by Al Barry/Three Lions/Getty Images)
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Jon Weeks|Rachelle Abbott14 February 2023

As another Valentine’s Day is upon us, Evolutionary Anthropologist Dr Anna Machin tells Tech & Science Daily what she has discovered in her pursuit of what love is.

Dr Machin has been researching the evolution of love, as well as the behavioural, physiological, neural, and biological ways love affects our brains, bodies and actions for her book Why We Love.

She explains how experts use fMRI scanners to see which parts of our brain activate when we are in love and, crucially, which parts don’t light up.

She also discusses how apps and social media have changed the way we find love, and why they might be harming our chances of finding a suitable partner.

Dr Machin explains how our brains use an individual algorithm to examine a person, and consider whether they would be a suitable partner, and shares her advice for how to navigate dating in the modern world.

Listen above, and find us on your Spotify Daily Drive or wherever you stream your podcasts.

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