The Five Best Sex-Themed TED Talks

Helen Fisher: Why we love and cheat

 

While a zillion love songs, distraught poets, and weepy teenagers have likened love to a drug, Fisher's further research on the subject finally confirms this suspicion as fact. Unfortunately, as the lovesick amongst us will testify, the brain's three main mating drives — lust, romantic love, and attachment — don't always come together. Wondering why you're suddenly feeling sweet on your fuck-buddy, or why every time you have sex with your sweetheart you feel like you've been teleported to another realm? It may just be because that awesome orgasm you had the other night spiked the dopamine in your brain, with an effect akin to the high of being on cocaine. Whether you're feeling sexually possessive or in love with three people at once, Fisher's research offers an interesting new slant on the mysteries of love and fidelity.