1. It’s like looking in a mirror! It turns out we all have a little something in common with Narcissus—the mythical fellow who fell in love with his own reflection. Scientists at the University of Liverpool recently concluded that our brains favour people with familiar faces. The research team asked over 200 participants to view a number of digitally altered human faces. They found that subjects preferred the features they found the most familiar—whether that means his or her own visage or that of a family member. This may explain that common phenomenon of couples looking like they could be siblings.

2. Manner, schmanners: Go ahead and stare. Another new study says that when a woman walks into a room, she is considered more attractive if she turns her eyes directly toward a certain man. Men would rate the same woman as less desirable if she doesn’t make strong eye contact. In this study, conducted at Dartmouth University, lead researcher Malia Mason had male participants sit and view a series of faces of fashion models, digitally enhanced to either be gazing toward or away from the participant. The study authors asked the viewer to rate the likeability of each model and found that those who turned away were seen as less agreeable. The study’s researchers went on to suggest that a woman’s gaze can be a powerful arousal cue and that our impressions are largely formed by nonverbal communications such as eye contact. So start locking eyes, ladies!

3. You’ll know it when you see it. A recent study at the University of Pennsylvania reveals that regardless of what people say they are looking for in a dating situation, they don’t need a lot of time with or information about a person to tell if they’re interested. Single people’s behaviour suggests that individuals know “it” (a person who appeals to them) when they see it—almost instantly. Lead researcher Robert Kurzban and his colleagues studied data from 10,000+ daters. They found that men and women assessed potential compatibility within moments of meeting, using primarily visual cues such as age, height, and attractiveness. Says Kurzban, “Somewhat surprisingly, factors that you might think would be really important to people — like religion, education, and income — played very little roles in their choices.”

4. Listen up. The next time you call up a potential love match, pay special attention to how they sound. Researchers at the University of Albany had 149 men and women rate the attractiveness of a series of recorded voices on a scale from 1 to 10. The researchers also gathered information about the sexual histories of the people whose voices they recorded. They found that the voices found to be the most appealing belonged to people who had sex at an earlier age, had more sexual partners, and were more prone to infidelity than those rated as having less appealing voices. So know that what maybe a seductive voice to you, maybe linked to a person with a bit of a past…

5. I couldn’t help it babe, it’s in my genes. There may be a genetic component to infidelity, says a professor at the Twin Research Unit at St. Thomas’ Hospital, London. This is based on the fact that if one twin exhibits infidelity, the other twin strays 55% of the time. In the general population, the number is 23%. The tendency to remain faithful is a component of personality, the scientist elaborates, which is governed both by a number of genes and societal factors.

6. It’s official. Love makes us crazy. For one, it causes serotonin levels in the brain to drop, which may lead people to obsess about their lover. (The levels of serotonin, a chemical produced by the body, are also low in people who have obsessive-compulsive disorder.) Next, it ramps up production of the stress hormone cortisol, leading to slightly higher blood pressure and possible loss of sleep. Finally, a scientist at the University of London has found that when people look at their new loves, the neural circuits that are usually in charge of social judgment are suppressed. All in all, love kind of leaves you obsessive, stressed, and blind. And we love it.

7. Why broken hearts hurt... A recent UCLA study suggests the psychological hurt of a break-up is just as real as a physical injury. Two areas of the brain that respond to physical pain also become activated when a person is dealing with social pain, such as being dumped. The study’s authors used an MRI to monitor brain activity in participants while they played a game simulating social rejection. The researchers believe that the pain of being rejected may have evolved as a motivating force that led humans to seek out social interaction, which is crucial for the survival of most mammals.

8. Blushing is best. If we take our cue from apes, rosy cheeks are crucial in the dating game, says a new study. Scientists at Stirling University in Scotland have found that primates prefer mates with red faces. A rosy glow might also act as a similar cue in humans, say the researchers, sending a message of good health. They speculate that it could explain why women use blusher.

9. Kiss this way. Did you know there is a “right” way to kiss? People are more likely to tilt their heads to the right when kissing instead of left, says a report published recently in the journal Nature. A scientist from Ruhr University in Germany analyzed 124 pairs of smoochers and found that 65 percent go toward the right.

10. Meet for drinks before dinner. Researchers at NYU and Stanford have discovered that hungry men prefer heavier women. By staking out a dining hall, scientists had hundreds of students fill out questionnaires about their preferences in a mate. Men who filled out the questionnaire just before they entered the hall described their ideal woman as an average of three or four pounds heavier than men interviewed after they had eaten. Incidentally, researchers did not find the same change in women’s preferences, so guys: Go ahead and schedule that date for drinks before or after dinnertime.

Laura Schaefer is the author of Man with Farm Seeks Woman with Tractor: The Best and Worst Personal Ads of All Time.

逋鼠记

导演：上帝

领衔主演：可爱的小老鼠

主演：我（逍遥凡星），菲菲，Jash，晓嘉

友情客串：丁同学

场记：晓嘉

灯光：丁同学

出品人：逍遥凡星

 

 

第一幕（引子）： 惊粟     

某晚，夜黑风高，在harlinger st上空突然传来一声凄惨的惊叫，如此撕心裂肺的叫声是那么的凄惨，Jash和我为此不寒而立，同时将目光投向了晓嘉，没错声音发自晓嘉（感谢主演晓嘉同学，叫声表现出色），一定是什么惊天血案吧（Jash和我的潜台词）？

第二幕： 发现    

“老鼠~”晓嘉说出了自己的发现，Jash和我同时将提起的心放下并发出了相同的感叹：“怎么可能，我们家怎么会有老鼠呢？”“真的我看见了，就从餐桌下面跑过去了，一道黑影”晓嘉认真地说道。在检查了餐桌周围以后我们没有老鼠的任何发现，“一定是你眼花了，成天一惊一炸的，早晚被你吓死。”我跟Jash安慰晓嘉并再次肯定家里不会有老鼠。

第三幕：现形     

2日后，菲菲同学来到了我家（具体说来是经过了失恋的打击，独自一人在爱丁堡实在无聊，所以被导演他老人家安排来演这出戏）。"既然菲菲来了咱家的大牲口就都歇了吧..."谁打我？念错台词了呵呵，“既然菲菲来了，那晚上就出去吃吧”哈哈。中间穿插Jash跟菲菲单条台球11局（结果吗？出于保护室友的角度就不说了，只能说菲菲球技果然了得，一下子就赢了9局），然后去吃饭，酒足饭饱之后...当然是饱暖思... 大家想到哪里去了，我们不过在soho门口转了一圈（没去过嘛），然后就径直回家了。到家时间11点多，叫丁同学来，导演说他档期不合适并且没有准备给他的片酬只是友情客串所以就没来。就在我们看创世纪的时候，本片的1号主角出现了！从沙发下面so的一声跑到了窗口附近，这下我们可是亲眼看到的，立刻相信晓嘉的话了（之前也曾恍惚过）。菲菲，我，Jash，各抄家伙，（Jash人呢？导演说让你拿凳子打，你站在上面干吗？）

第四幕：逃脱

。。。待续

话接上文，我们说到老鼠出现了，我冲上去了，jash上凳子了。菲菲（他说这个不是他的非字，我管它的，避免真实姓名嘛！）很激动，这下他终于找到发泄的地方了，来了2天也没什么好招待的，这下好了打猎吧~这可是新兴的贵族运动呢！瞬时，沙发挪位了，桌子被拆了（我看着不爽，拆了一来地方大二来可以用来挡住老鼠的去处），可乐也被我们码成了长城（封堵老鼠去路）。可老鼠呢？在我们3个人的眼皮底下消失了~~~~,怪哉啊！3双眼睛一致看到他跑到冰箱下，然后呢？居然没了。连个洞都找不到，藏墙缝里了？无奈阿，把所有墙缝都堵起来，地上扔了块cheese看看他还能不能出来，结果怎样？等我们再看时cheese没有了，真的没有了，老鼠也没有了，相死的心都有啊！

 

 

 

 

 

全家福,摄于waterloo大桥上，感谢路过的朋友。