{"id":9407,"date":"2026-04-09T17:06:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T17:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/?post_type=article&#038;p=9407"},"modified":"2026-04-09T17:06:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T17:06:57","slug":"scientists-confirm-the-biological-basis-of-love","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/scientists-confirm-the-biological-basis-of-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Confirm the Biological Basis of Love"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Jill McCabe Johnson<\/h2>\n<pre>\r\n\r\nAt the touch tanks the intern\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0urged us to feel\r\nthe lumpy sea slug clinging\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0to the tank\u2019s slick walls, to poke\r\n\r\nits mossy black flesh.\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<em>See how soft he is?<\/em>\r\nWe dipped our hands in the water,\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0pressed fingertips to pliant skin,\r\n\r\nand it was soft! <em>They\u2019re safe\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><em>from predators here in the tanks.<\/em>\r\nThe intern instructed us to place\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0our fingers between the spikes\r\n\r\nof a sea urchin the size of a small peach\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<em>and wait<\/em>. The quills pinched\r\nas spineless feelers pushed\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0to expel our own intruding feelers\r\n\r\n  \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0the way sometimes I hold you tight\r\nto measure if I should let you in close,\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0to gauge if I can push you away.<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jill McCabe Johnson At the touch tanks the intern \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0urged us to feel the lumpy sea slug clinging \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0to the tank\u2019s slick walls, to poke its mossy black flesh. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0See how soft he is? We dipped our hands in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":9415,"template":"","categories":[9,49,119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9407","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aquifer","category-literary-features","category-poetry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Scientists Confirm the Biological Basis of Love - The Florida Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/scientists-confirm-the-biological-basis-of-love\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scientists Confirm the Biological Basis of Love - The Florida Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jill McCabe Johnson At the touch tanks the intern \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0urged us to feel the lumpy sea slug clinging \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0to the tank\u2019s slick walls, to poke its mossy black flesh. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0See how soft he is? 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