Mental Clay

Just consider how much learning happens when you choose a mate. Along with thrilling dependency comes glimpsing the world through another’s eyes; forsaking some habits and adopting others (good or bad); tasting new ideas, rituals, foods or landscapes; a slew of added friends and family; a tapestry of physical intimacy and affection; and many other catalysts, including a tornadic blast of attraction and attachment hormones — all of which revamp the brain.

In case you missed it this weekend: poet and naturalist Diane Ackerman’s moving Opinionator piece “The Brain on Love.”

(Image of [what’s probably] the world’s largest synthesizer.)