ESI UT Austin - The Biology of Love - In Person

You do NOT need to sign up for this event. It is a placeholder only.

You DO need to visit this page to register -- https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-biology-of-love-tickets-1978339420462?aff=oddtdtcreator

The ESI Hot Science Cool Talks series is an extremely popular event and you should register ASAP (Registration is usually open three weeks before the event date). These events fill up almost immediately when registration opens. It does help to be on the ESI mailing list (very low traffic).

Environmental Science Institute - Jackson School of Geosciences:

Hot Science Cool Talk -- https://www.esi.utexas.edu/community-engagement/hot-science-cool-talks/ (Bookmarking this page is a good idea. Mailing list subscription information is to the right.)

Hot Science Cool Talks Archive -- https://www.esi.utexas.edu/community-engagement/hot-science-cool-talks/archives/

ESI has this to say...

What does science say about love and long-term relationships? In this Hot Science – Cool Talks event, biologist Dr. Steven Phelps explores the biology of love through the surprising world of prairie voles, one of the few monogamous mammals. By studying how vole brains form lasting bonds, Dr. Phelps reveals what biology, brain chemistry, and evolution can teach us about human connection, trust, and commitment. This engaging talk offers a fresh, science-based look at why we pair up right after Valentines Day!

Arrive early and explore Cool Activities from 5:30 - 6:40! Local organizations will share exciting hands-on activities related to the talk! List of activities coming soon!

This is a featured event in the 2026 Texas Science Festival. Environmental Science Institute is a proud partner of the Festival, organized by The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Natural Sciences.

Steven Phelps is an Associate Professor of Integrative Biology and the Director and co-founder of the Center for Brain, Behavior and Evolution. His research, funded by NSF, NIH, and National Geographic, focuses on social cognition, brain evolution, neural modeling, gene regulation, and human evolution. Phelps earned his PhD in Integrative Biology from the University of Texas in 1999 and completed predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the NSF Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, supported by the NIH.

Austin Physics for Fun has this to say...

Here is where we will be meeting prior to the presentation -- https://www.google.com/maps/place/30%C2%B017'21.0%22N+97%C2%B044'08.8%22W/@30.2891568,-97.7357906,55m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d30.289172!4d-97.735764

Please be there no later than 6:15pm CST.

ESI wants to seat everyone by 6:50pm CST. There may be pre-event activities so the crowd can be expected to be large and have many young ones full of enthusiasm :) We'll walk across the street to Welch Hall and go through registration and seating. Don't forget to turn all audible alerts on your phone OFF please.

I'll be wearing a black cap with the "Hi How Are You?" frog on it -- https://thedailytexan.com/2017/08/04/jeremiah-the-innocent-deserves-more-recognition/

UT Austin Parking & Transportation -- https://parking.utexas.edu/

If anyone is interested in socializing after the presentation we can go to the Drag and pick a place :)