Sheril Kirshenbaum presents Fun Facts from her book, THE SCIENCE OF KISSING

• The record for longest on-screen kiss was broken in 2010 by Steve Carell and Tina Fey, who kissed for FIVE minutes during the closing credits of their film Date Night.
• Scientists have theorized that the bacteria that is one cause of ulcers (others include stress and spicy foods) may be transmitted through kissing.
• It’s not just sexual performance that alcohol may impair—it can affect kissing, too, by stimulating dopamine.
• An “Eskimo kiss” doesn’t actually involve rubbing noses, but rather placing one’s nostrils against the skin of a loved one and breathing in deeply to inhale his or her scent.
• Humans aren’t the only species who “kiss and make up”—chimps do, too.
• Our current use of  “x” in “xoxo” dates from legal agreements in the Middle Ages.
• Scientists think that the direction we tilt our heads when we kiss might be determined in utero.
• Dopamine, the neurotransmitter stimulated during kissing, is the same one affected by a rush of cocaine—and is likely the reason people who are newly in love feel may feel like they’re walking on air.
• Most people remember their first kiss more vividly than their first sexual encounter.