Smooch Science

Wendy Hill, provost and Rappolt Professor in Neuroscience, and Evan Lebovitz ’09 presented their work on people’s physical and emotional reactions to kissing at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Photography by Chuck Zovko

Valentine’s Day saw media around the nation and the world focused on research by Wendy L. Hill, provost, dean of the faculty, and Rappolt Professor of Neuroscience, and Evan Lebovitz ’09. They presented their findings on people’s physical and emotional reactions to kissing at a symposium entitled “The Science of Kissing” during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Feb. 12-16 in Chicago.

“[Hill and Lebovitz] had couples take part in a kissing experiment,” notes a report that aired on ABC World News with Charles Gibson. “Preliminary results found that stress levels actually dropped after kissing, and hormones that make us swoon, like oxytocin, went up.” The Associated Press, Reuters, U.S. News and World Report, CNN.com, the Chicago Tribune, the BBC, India’s Money Times, and Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald, among others, carried more extensive reports.

Lebovitz graduated with a degree in neuroscience. His work as an EXCEL Scholar with Hill was a continuation of honors research conducted by Carey Wilson ’07 under Hill’s guidance.