Science of smooching

Cosmos Magazine ^ | June 2007, issue 15 | Erica Harrison

[SunkenCiv]

Mystery still surrounds the motive for that very first kiss. As anthropologist Helen Fisher, of Rutgers University in New Jersey, notes, many species engage in behaviour that looks suspiciously similar. Snails use their antennae to caress, birds nibble beak-to-beak, and many mammals lick or gently gnaw each other. So maybe kissing is just an animal impulse? ...while chimp kisses don't get more lascivious than a quick peck, bonobous revel in sloppy, tonguey tonsil-hockey. Some trace the evolutionary origins of the kiss to mouth-to-mouth feeding of offspring, a behaviour observed in many species of birds and mammals. This could have led to kissing as a sign of affection between mother and child; a gesture that spread to other relationships. But some anthropologists point out that the people who still feed their young in this way -- the Papuans of New Guinea and the San of southwest Africa -- were strangers to kissing before Europeans arrived. For Freud, kissing was a subconscious return to infancy and suckling at the mother's breast, and many researchers since have noted the parallels.

[SunkenCiv]

:’)

[Shimmer]

Borrow it? I need to OWN it.

[SunkenCiv]

Experiments probably begin something like this: “Is that a test tube in your pocket, or...”

[Slings and Arrows]

“many mammals lick or gently gnaw each other”
My mind is working overtime

Example: Get a room, you two!

[relictele]

Thank you for helping me stick to a diet.

[Shimmer]

Don’t Interrupt Me I’m Having A Sexual Fantasy

I like that for a tagline!

[Jersey Republican Biker Chick]

Ha ha ha.....

[Jersey Republican Biker Chick]

It does have a nice ring to it...

[Shimmer]

Blackhood55

[Daffynition]

In the lab, Susan couldn't help staring at Bob's enormous pens.

[JRios1968]

She was in traction for months.

I guess he lost traction?

[Shimmer]

[SoothingDave]

You must remember this: a kiss is still a kiss.

[Daffynition]

[SunkenCiv]

Well, it was a ball point.

[SunkenCiv]

Play it, Sam.

[day10]

Well, OK, but you’re so far away.......

[Jersey Republican Biker Chick]

LOL!!

SMOOCH!!

[BlackHood55]

And it should be but only at triple time.

[Monkey Face]

A red x in a box deserves a smooch for sure!