As a taste of things to come. ![]()
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For your Friday Weird Science, I present to you a Poem! And I shall call it "Prairie Voles in Love: An Ode to Oxytocin"
Out on the lonely prairie, gazing at the stars above
I saw through the night
the wondrous sight
Of prairie voles in love
'Twas truly a miracle to see
this display of monogamy
Monogamy, subject of vast debates
In only 3% of mammals, mostly primates
But here on the prairie, in burrows and holes
whole colonies of uxorious voles!
But who could love a prairie vole?
More handsome is a lump of coal!
The rodents are small,
hairy, buck-toothed and all
Though whiskers are cute, with bright eyes above,
That's a face only a mother could love!
Alas, love is not for their minds to control
The hormones must their hearts console
The posterior pituitary is something great
For forming pair-bonds with your chosen mate!
And for voles together through thick and thin
There is nothing better than oxytocin.
The posterior pituiary, the neurohypophysis
The place the love glow from pair-bonding is.
Without oxytocin, the voles just get laid
There is nothing from which pairings can be made.
The females needed oxytocin for when the morning came
Or male voles were kicked out, to do the walk of shame.
But it turns out that oxytocin is just for a girl
The boys need vasopressin to make their toes curl
ADH can turn those dead-beat dads
who otherwise would be bounders and cads
into a model husband, father, and mate
who any smart girl vole would kill to date.
No miracle, this monogamous bliss
So when your lover walks out
Don't waste time, scream, or shout,
Look to your neurohypophysis!
I am a HUGE geek. I know. Even my advisor tells me so. Ack! I'm still rhyming!!
Insel, T.R., Winslow, J.R., Wang, Z.X., Young, L., Hulihan, T.J. (1995). Oxytocin and the molecular basis of monogamy. Advances in Experimental and Medical Biology, 395(1), 227-234.



No more rhyming now! I mean it!
Anybody want a peanut?
...I miss you, big guy. I hope you are resting well, and dreaming of large women!
[...] And now we’re going to talk about oxytocin. And parenting. In humans. It ain’t just for voles anymore. [...]
[...] sex (does anyone else remember this article? Anyone?). This is interesting, as in prairie voles, vasopressin is important in pair-bonding, and usually only to one lady at a time. But in this, the author is pretty well correct, at least [...]
[...] at first, before thoughts of pair bonding and hormonal influence on behavior was strongly considered, people thought that the orgasm must do [...]
[...] there really are relatively few species out there other than primates that ARE monogamous. Only 3% of mammals, in fact. So some research has gone in to what it is that MAKES them monogamous, especially when compared to [...]
[...] yet it is also benefaction in several areas of a brain, where it has roles in duty (such as in a monogamous duty of voles). Changes in a upholder segment of this gene (which helps control how most of a gene is expressed) [...]
[...] the prairie vole, symbol of happily monogamous mating systems everywhere (seriously, someone should start selling [...]
[...] always makes a lot of press. It plays roles in reproduction and mating behavior, social bonding, behavior related to morality. To call it "the love hormone" as some people like to [...]
It is natural for people to switch on the Air Conditioner lighter, and will probably lower both, maintenance and operation costs.
The best part of it is that you don't need it, caulk it anyway.