Straight Talk with Derek McGinty

CHEMISTRY OF LOVE -- A look at the science of romance
First of four installments premiered Monday, April 7, 10 p.m. EST on PBS stations nationwide (check local listings)

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CHEMISTRY OF LOVE

More than 150 years ago, Tennyson wrote, "In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to love". While poets throughout the ages have known that sap rising in trees and the burgeoning of spring spark romance, at last researchers are beginning to uncover the scientific foundations for the phenomenon. Increasingly, studies show that lust, love and fidelity are based more in biology and evolution than in emotion and conscious thought.

From the way we flirt to the way we commit adultery, our behaviors can be traced back to our evolutionary ancestors. Chemistry of Love, the first offering in the second season of Straight Talk with Derek McGinty, aired Monday, April 7 on PBS stations (check local listings) nationwide.

The program delves into the science of romance in a provocative debate on the nature of sexual chemistry. Derek McGinty leads a panel discussion and fields questions from a studio audience to unravel the scientific and not-so-scientific mysteries of romantic love and sexual attraction. The program focuses on the nature of love; the phases of falling in love; "love" hormones and chemicals; gender differences; and "love maps," mental templates created in childhood that determine attraction, sexual arousal and love.

Chemistry of Love covers the latest discoveries in brain chemistry and discusses how hormones influence desire, whether it's the jolt of lust at first sight or the warm glow of a long-term relationship.

The panel of four experts includes Helen Fisher, Ph.D., an anthropologist at Rutgers University who specializes in brain chemistry imaging and the author of "Anatomy of Love: A Natural History of Mating, Marriage and Why We Stray"; David Buss, an evolutionary psychologist, professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and author of "The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating"; Cynthia Heimel, a critic, essayist and humorist based in Los Angeles and author of "Sex Tips for Girls" and "If Your Phone Doesn't Ring, It's Me"; and James Weinrich, Ph.D., a biologist and assistant adjunct professor of psychiatry at the University of California at San Diego and author of "Sexual Landscapes".

Straight Talk With Derek McGinty is produced by WETA, Washington, D.C., and underwritten by public television viewers and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Executive producer: Jeff Milstein. Executive-in-charge: David McGowan.