From the Editor; Your Sexual Brain; Special Editions; by Mariette DiChristina; 1 Page(s)

How deluded we are. We believe that, with our seemingly all-knowing consciousness, we are masters of our own domain (as Jerry Seinfeld so colorfully put it). In reality, as you will learn in this special issue, the imperatives and influences of sex, the sexes and sexuality all subconsciously shape our behavior in countless ways.

If you think your conscious intellect was at work in choosing your romantic partner, for instance, think again. In his feature article "Sex and the Secret Nerve," starting on page 32, R. Douglas Fields explains how a little appreciated cranial nerve may be pulling your strings: "Many scientists believe that pheromones, those silent chemical messengers exchanged by members of the opposite sex in search of mates, relay subconscious signals to the brain through this obscure nerve." Our kisses, too, transmit emotional messages that can cement a new relationship—or cause us to end it, as Chip Walter writes in "Affairs of the Lips," beginning on page 48.