Steven Johnson's May Discover article on the neurochemical basis of love declares that there is no love potion no. 9.  Although true today, researchers are making tremendous strides in understanding this ever-powerful emotion.

Citing leading love researchers like the neuroendrocronologist, Sue Carter and psychologist, Shelley Taylor, he details how the hormone, oxytocin, plays a critical role in creating tight social bonds.  Less than five percent of mammals practice monogamy, but it has been shown that in these mammals (humans included) oxytocin is expressed in much higher concentrations.  For example, oxytocin is released in men and women during sexual orgasm, as well as during lactation.

Oxytocin is only one part of this much more complicated phenomena.   Love is a complex emotion involving all three levels of emotions.  As explained in the recent book, A General Theory of Love, other neurotransmitters like serotonin and opiates also influence bonding while the amount and type of social interaction drive the expression of these proteins and other yet defined neurotransmitters.

Searching for the next level of detail, love researchers are focusing on developing animal models to help understand the neurochemistry of love.  But animal studies can only take us so far, especially given love's social complexity.

Animal models of physical disease have been the cornerstones of medical research, but they are limited in their predictive value of human emotions.  Animal models can point us in the right direction, but to understand human emotions requires studying them in humans. 

The lack of objective measurement tools to detect the changes in brain chemistries is holding back emotions research.  This reality has placed a high value on the development of new brain imaging technologies that can help us understand how the human brain functions.

As neurotechnology advances and insights into how our evolutionarily defined neural chemistry drives our daily decisions are illuminated there will be interesting insights across the spectrum of social behavior.  Just see how certain economists are already reacting to the oxytocin revelation and the potential implications of future love potions.