In this week’s list of unmissable news brand content, we take a look how news brands are embracing love on Valentine’s Day, from witty poems and an insight into the end of dating apps and the science behind love
1. Roses are red
Valentine’s Day is a time-honoured tradition that captivates hearts around the world. Metro shares its witty take on the romantic day with 20 witty and romantic poems.
Whether you write words into a soppy card, a quick text message or recite the poems over a glass of wine, sharing words can be seen as a loving way to let your other half know you’re thinking of them.
2. Waddle, I do without you?
A partially blind penguin at a bird park in Surrey has made a unique partnership with a fellow penguin that acts as its guide, the Daily Mail reports. Squid, a three-year-old African penguin that is part of a colony at Birdworld in Farnham, was born with a cataract in 2020. She struggled to see her food but did not miss out on her daily feed thanks to her friend named Penguin, who guided her around the enclosure and helped her eat.
Polly Bramham, living collections manager at Birdworld, said: “With [Squid’s] partial sight she couldn’t pinpoint the fish herself, so she would stand up next to Penguin. She could guide her beak along his beak to find the fish. And that’s how they’ve been ever since.”
The friendship shaped when the birds were about two-and-a-half months old. It is the first of its kind for Birdworld and the two have become “little celebrities” at the park, Bramham said.
3. The science behind falling in love
A biological anthropologist reveals the real reasons why love can drive us to distraction, the Independent shares on Instagram.
Dr Helen Fisher, biological anthropologist and author of Anatomy of Love, explains: “When you fall in love, there are a lot of bodily responses.
“The neurotransmitter norepinephrine, which plays a key role in arousal and alertness, causes increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, and dilation of pupils. And norepinephrine and adrenaline can cause sweaty palms and butterflies in the stomach.”
4. The end of dating apps?
Is it time to swipe left on dating apps? Journalist Lucy Holden writes for the Evening Standard about her experience about dating and her journey trying life as a throuple. She discusses how dating apps have had a negative effect on monogamy and how people are turning to alternative relationship structures.
5. Single for Valentines
Valentine’s Day is traditionally seen as a celebration of love, but some singletons can feel like the day is an annual excuse for making people feel as lonely, hopeless, and miserable as humanly possible, the School of Life writes for the i.
While the day is admired by many, it can also remind readers of being in a single state. There are many reasons we might point to as to why we’re single and may be missing a big reason: the problem may be us.
“Not because of the way we look, or dress; not because of how much we earn or how we choose to spend our free time. But rather because we are the unwitting inheritors of some deeply flawed ideas about what love really is – and what it requires.”
