NASA / JPL-Caltech / SSI

Saturn and its rings glow in a backlit, enhanced-color image from the Cassini orbiter. The picture combines images that were acquired using infrared, red and violet filters on Oct. 17. Two of Saturn's moons, Enceladus and Tethys, sparkle on the left side of the planet.

The holiday season is bringing beautiful baubles from outer space, including an unconventional view of Saturn from the Cassini orbiter, a gaudy nebula from the Hubble Space Telescope and a loopy picture of a supernova's leftovers. You can even send your own celestial season's greetings.

The Saturn picture, released today, marks the first time Cassini captured a backlit view of the ringed planet since 2006. That earlier photo made a huge splash, in part because the planet Earth could just barely be seen as a pale blue dot off to the side. This time, Earth is hidden behind Saturn, but you can spot two moons just to the left and below the planet: The closer speck is Enceladus, and Tethys is farther down and to the left.

This isn't the view that human eyes would see: Cassini's wide-angle camera snagged this picture in infrared, red and violet wavelengths from a distance of 500,000 miles (800,000 kilometers) behind Saturn on Oct. 17. The various views were assigned different colors in the visible-light spectrum to produce this eerie, otherworldly picture. Here's what Carolyn Porco, leader of the Cassini imaging team at the Colorado-based Space Science Institute, says about the image in today's "Captain's Log":

"Of all the many glorious images we have received from Saturn, none are more strikingly unusual than those we have taken from Saturn's shadow. They unveil a rare splendor seldom seen anywhere else in our solar system.

"This one is our special gift to you, the people of the world, in this holiday season that brings to a close the year 2012. We fervently hope it serves as a reminder that we humans, though troubled and warlike, are also the dreamers, thinkers, and explorers inhabiting one achingly beautiful planet, yearning for the sublime, and capable of the magnificent. We hope it reminds you to protect our planet with all your might and cherish the life it so naturally sustains.

"From all of us on Cassini, the happiest of holidays to everyone."

The Hubble Space Telescope's science team is also rolling out the holiday goodies, with a twisty planetary nebula known as NGC 5189 serving as the centerpiece. "The intricate structure of this bright gaseous nebula resembles a glass-blown holiday ornament with a glowing ribbon entwined," the Hubble team says in today's photo advisory.

NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage

A holiday image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the planetary nebula NGC 5189. The image was captured by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 on Oct. 8.

Planetary nebulae like NGC 5189 are formed when a medium-sized star like our sun enters the last stages of its life, and puffs away its outer shells of glowing gas. This nebula's swirly structure is thought to be due to the influence of an unseen companion star that's stirring the pot, gravitationally speaking.

The picture was taken by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3, one of the instruments that was installed during the telescope's final servicing mission in 2009. The camera's filters were tuned to the specific wavelengths of fluorescing sulfur, hydrogen and oxygen atoms, plus broad filters in visible and near-infrared wavelengths to capture the star colors.

The National Optical Astronomy Observatory and WIYN Consortium are also putting out a glittery end-of-the-year picture of the Cygnus Loop, a giant supernova remnant that glows 1,500 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. The observations were made in 2003 by astronomer Richard Cool, using the NOAO Mosaic 1 camera on the WIYN 0.9-meter telescope on Kitt Peak, Ariz.

The Cygnus Loop shines in a picture released by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory and the WIYN Consortium.

Back then, the computing power wasn't sufficient to process the picture's 600 million pixels into a single, full-resolution color image. Now the telescope observations have been re-reduced and reprocessed by Travis Rector at the University of Alaska at Anchorage to produce the version released today. "Images like this are amazing, because they can remind you of the big picture and beauty that surrounds us," Cool said in NOAO's image advisory.

These pictures are cool enough for Christmas cards, but if you need a little inspiration for your last-minute mailing list, the teams behind NASA's Great Observatories can help: The Space Telescope Science Institute's Hubble Web site offers printable holiday cards. The team behind the Chandra X-Ray Observatory has e-cards suitable for a variety of occasions. You can turn to Zazzle or CafePress to order greeting cards featuring imagery from the Spitzer Space Telescope.

The European Space Agency, meanwhile is offering a selection of space-themed e-cards as well as a printable 2013 Hubble calendar.

More holiday treats:

• 2012 Cosmic Log Space Advent Calendar
• Stocking stuffers for stargazers
• The Atlantic: 2012 Hubble Advent Calendar
• 2012 Zooniverse Advent Calendar

Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Bre Pettis

Uranium marbles glow under ultraviolet light in a picture taken by MakerBot Industries co-founder Bre Pettis.

How about a dinosaur skull for the holidays? Or a handful of glow-in-the-dark uranium marbles? Cast your vote and help us crown the geekiest gift for the holiday season.

The gift suggestions for this year's Science Geek Guide are in line with a proud tradition here at msnbc.com. You can always find guides to Black Friday tech deals, or the top 20 toys of 2011, or the hottest holiday hostess gifts. But where else can get a line on a nuclear-powered plaything, or a six-dimensional paperweight, or brains to fit your budget?

Even better, this is a geek gift guide created by geeks for geeks, with some geeky prizes thrown into the bargain. Last week I put out the call for suggestions, and it'll be up to you to select the coolest, most offbeat prize from the top 10. The geek who made the top-rated suggestion will be eligible to receive a pile of books, including "Science Ink," "The Cult of Lego," "The Physics Book" and "The Case for Pluto" (autographed by yours truly).

Here are this year's 10 finalists:

Uranium marbles: "Nothing says Merry Christmas like a little bit of radiation," says Richard-1971294. He'd love to get his hands on some uranium marbles. Back in the old days, pigments containing uranium oxide were used in lots of items, including ceramic glazes, green-tinted glassware and, yes, children's marbles. Black Light World, which sells a three-pack of uranium-doped marbles for $9.95, says they're "totally safe" — even though radioactive caution stickers are plastered all over the promotional images. You can also find 'em on eBay.

Dinosaur Corporation

A carnotaurus skull is flanked by a scale replica, available from the Dinosaur Corporation.

Dinosaur skulls: "Dino skull replicas are cool and geeky!" David Flowers tweeted in his response to the call for entries. The Dinosaur Corporation offers a wide selection of skulls, molded out of polyurethane resin to look like the real thing ... only smaller. If you're looking for a real dinosaur skull, that'll cost you. A T. rex skull sold for $215,000 in March (and some dino dung went for $1,200). Flowers also put a naked mole rat plushie on his geek-gift wish list.

The Elements Vault: "Physics is hot these days, but for lovers of chemistry, this kit from Theodore Gray will be a real treat." says KGill. "His gorgeous book about the elements, 'The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe,' showcased the elegance of the periodic table, and the beauty of the elements. This collection incudes new text and photographs, reproductions of historic documents, a pop-up model of an atom, and samples of several elements."

Magnifying glasses and other optics: "Nothing beats a brand new magnifying glass," says Jennifer Hancock, a Humanist author and speaker. "They get cruddy after a while, always nice to have a new one." Here's the set she has her eye on. Oh, and she wouldn't mind getting a hand-held microscope and illuminator, plus a snazzy pair of binoculars. In her Twitter profile, Hancock calls herself a dork, but she sounds like a bona fide geek to me. There is a difference.

NASA / JPL

Flaunt your Martian pride with a JPL lunchbox.

Mars rover lunchbox: Lights in the Dark blogger Jason Major says anything from ThinkGeek will do the trick, but he'd sure like to get a $20 Mars Exploration Rover lunchbox from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's online store. Space geeks of the female persuasion might consider some Red Planet earrings in honor of the about-to-be-launched Mars Science Laboratory mission.

USB microscope: "A USB microscope, with the ability to capture images digitally, is a great geek gift!" says Paliniasky. There's a mind-boggling selection, ranging from less than $20 to astronomical prices.

Plush microbes: "GiantMicrobes are way awesome and super cute — stuffed animal versions of microorganisms," says biology student Kelsey Plesniak, a member of the Cosmic Log corps on Facebook. As we head into flu season, what better gift could you give a microbiology geek than ... a cuddly flu bug?

Wi-Fi detector shirt: This $14.99 ThinkGeek T-shirt has a decal that glows to indicate the signal strength of wireless networks in the area. "My son the math teacher bought one of these earlier this year," George Buddy Dow says on Facebook. "Inexpensive and practical." Just don't forget to remove the decal and the battery pack before you put it in the wash. Dow also puts in a plug for the "Ant Farm Revolution," which sounds like an entomological Occupy movement.

ThinkGeek

Cut a slice with the starship Enterprise.

Star Trek pizza cutter: Joel Davis casts his vote for a $29.99 ThinkGeek kitchen accessory that promises to "boldly cut pizza where no man has cut before." It's as if you're holding a miniaturized starship Enterprise in the palm of your hand. Come to think of it, I've seen that episode.

Pi plate: "A pi plate is available. To make pies in," Jan Smith writes. "Has a large pi symbol in the center and the numbers 3.14159... etc., all around the edge of the plate. I got one for my son." Here's an alternate design for the pi plate. Any way you slice it, this will be a good kitchen item to have around for March 14 ... Pi Day.

Extra credit: You'll find all sorts of geeky (and not-so-geeky) gift ideas by following the links below, and you'll also want to check out our holiday book roundup. You might also consider supporting The Illuminated Origin of Species, an effort by artist/naturalist Kelly Houle to create an illuminated manuscript of Charles Darwin's masterwork in the spirit of the Book of Kells. To support the effort, Houle is offering sets of Darwin-themed greeting cards, beetle prints and an adopt-a-beetle program.

Don't forget to cast a vote for your favorite gift among the top 10, and may the best geek win!

Previous Science Geek Gift Guides:

• The gift of science (2002)
• For the scientist who has everything (2002)
• Toy traditions go back to the future (2003)
• Your toys will be assimilated (2004)
• Gifts for space geeks (2004)
• Find your star (2005)
• The top gift for science geeks (2006)
• Season's readings for kids ... and for grown-ups (2007)
• The top geek gift of 2008
• Gifts from the sixth dimension (2009)
• Make your own geeky goodness (2010)

More science gifts:

• Edmund Scientific: The classic science store
• Educational Innovations
• Exploratorium Science Gift Guide 2011
• GeekDad Holiday Gift Guide 2011
• Home Science Tools gift guide
• Imagination Soup math and science gifts
• MakeZine Holiday Gift Guide
• Robot Snob suggestions for robotics fans
• Sheldon Shirts: Big Bang Theory gifts
• ThinkGeek: Stuff for smart masses
• xkcd store
• Zazzle gifts for geeks ... and "Big Bang" fans

Update for 4:45 p.m. ET Nov. 23: Thanks so much for your votes. Looks like it could be a close contest. The top Science Geek Gift of 2011 will be selected based on the tally as of noon ET Sunday, and announced in a follow-up item on Monday.

You don't need to buy me a present. All I ask is that you connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds. 

Used with permission from "Science Ink" by Carl Zimmer. Sterling Publishing (c) 2011

MRL, a graduate student in molecular biology at Princeton, wears universal truths on his chest, including the structure of a glucose molecule, a symbol from quantum physics, the golden ratio and a carbon atom. The tattoo is one of the featured images in "Science Ink" by Carl Zimmer.

Ready to crack open some inky tales of scientific lore and levity? Check out our holiday science book roundup — and add your own selections to the list.

Big, arty books:

• "Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science Obsessed" by Carl Zimmer: This is not your typical coffee-table book. First, it's handy enough to sit on a shelf, thanks to its 7-by-10-inch size. But more importantly, it's not just an assemblage of 200 amazing tattoos inspired by scientific symbology. Zimmer tells the tale behind each tattoo ... and the science that inspired it. Think of it as a survey course on the cosmos, written on skin.
• "The Physics Book: From the Big Bang to Quantum Resurrection, 250 Milestones in the History of Physics," by Clifford Pickover. What other book begins 13.7 billion years in the past and ends up more than 100 trillion years in the future? In between the big bang and the coming reign of the Boltzmann brains, Pickover hits the high points in the history of physics, explains scientific concepts ranging from classical mechanics to dark energy and string theory, and offers a glossy illustration for each milestone. Oh, and don't forget "The Math Book."
• "The Space Shuttle: Celebrating 30 Years of NASA's First Space Plane," by Piers Bizony. Are you looking for this year's biggest, shiniest coffee-table book about NASA's recently departed space shuttle fleet? Bizony's book is chock-full of pictures from each of the fleet's 135 missions, although the last one is represented only by a picture of Atlantis and its team during preparations for July's final flight. The text reviews 30 years of highs and lows for the shuttle program.
• "The Big Idea: How Breakthroughs of the Past Shape the Future," foreword by Timothy Ferris. National Geographic's coffee-table book provides a visually spectacular look at 24 cutting-edge innovations, ranging from stem cells and nanomedicine to augmented reality. But that's not all: Each of the "big ideas" is traced back through the scientific discoveries of the past that have laid the foundation for the future. Just the thing for a budding scientist or engineer. Here's what Boing Boing's Maggie Koerth-Baker says about the book: "If you put it on your coffee table, it will make people believe that you are smart. But I think its real value lies in what it can do for a seventh-grader."
• "The Cult of Lego," by John Baichtal and Joe Meno. Not exactly a science book, but if we're talking about inspiring the next generation of engineers, flipping through this book would be one way to do it. You can regard this volume as an introduction to the esoteric world of "vigs" (vignettes), "minifigs" (custom-made mini-figurines), balloon-borne Lego experiments, robo-Legos and grand projects that require millions of those little bricks. 

For kids of all ages:
The AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books recognizes high-quality science writing and illustration for young readers, but the "young adult" finalists are worth reading even if you're not so young anymore. My book, "The Case for Pluto," was a finalist last year. Here are this year's top selections:

Young adult science books:

• "Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle," by Thor Hanson. Delves into the evolution of feathers in the dinosaur age, their adaptation in the animal world and in the fashion world, the history of the global feather trade and the future applications of feather science.
• "Feynman," by Jim Ottaviani with illustrations by Leland Myrick. A graphic novel about the bongo-playing, Nobel-winning pioneer of quantum physics? This is a biography of Richard Feynman you have to see to believe. It's been a good year for the late physicist: Fans will want to pick up Lawrence M. Krauss' "Quantum Man" and take a look at Freeman Dyson's essay about both biographies in The New York Review of Books. Really serious fans will be interested in the new paperback edition of "Feynman Lectures on Physics."
• "Plastic: A Toxic Love Story," by Susan Freinkel. Are we in an unhealthy relationship with plastic? Freinkel delves into the history, science and economics surrounding our love affair with synthetics, and suggests a healthier way to live with "the material we love to hate but can't seem to live without."
• "Science Fair Season: Twelve Kids, a Robot Named Scorch, and What It Takes to Win," by Judy Dutton. The Intel Science and Engineering Fair is one of the premier competitions for whiz kids, offering $4 million in prizes and scholarships. But what's the real story behind the whizzery? Dutton follows a dozen brainy contestants through the thrill of discovery and the agony of defeat.

Children's science picture books:

• "After the Kill," by Darrin Lunde. Illustrator: Catherine Stock.
• "A Butterfly Is Patient," by Dianna Hutts Aston. Illustrator: Sylvia Long.
• "Seabird in the Forest," by Joan Dunning.
• "Seed, Soil, Sun," by Chris Peterson.

Middle-grades science books:

• "Biomimicry: Inventions Inspired by Nature," by Dora Lee. Illustrator: Margot Thompson.
• "The Case of the Vanishing Golden Frog: A Scientific Mystery," by Sandra Markle.
• "Elephant Talk: The Surprising Science of Elephant Communication," by Ann Downer.
• "World Without Fish," by Mark Kurlansky. Illustrator: Frank Stockton.

Award-winners:
These books take the prize. Literally. They're this year's top selections from prestigious science-writing competitions:

• "Superbug: The Fatal Menace of MRSA," by Maryn McKenna. Winner of the National Association of Science Writers' Science in Society book award.
• "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," by Rebecca Skloot. Winner of National Academies' Communication Award for books (and a repeat recommendation from last year's holiday book roundup).
• "The Wave Watcher's Companion," by Gavin Pretor-Pinney. Winner of the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books.

Additional attention-getters:
These books have been getting a lot of ink from The New York Times, Amazon.com and other sources:

• "The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World," by David Deutsch.
• "The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined," by Steven Pinker.
• "Cleopatra: A Life," by Stacy Schiff.
• "The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer," by Siddhartha Mukherjee.
• "1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created," by Charles C. Mann.
• "The Information: A History. A Theory. A Flood," by James Gleick.
• "Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything," by David Bellos.
• "Here's Looking at Euclid," by Alex Bellos.
• "Knocking on Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World," by Lisa Randall.
• "Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them," by Donovan Hohn.
• "Radioactivity: A History of a Mysterious Science," by Marjorie Caroline Malley.

More book recommendations:
I've touched upon a fair number of notable books over the past year, including "Incognito," "The Hidden Reality," "The Magic of Reality" and "Physics of the Future." Check out these other recommendations from past Cosmic Log roundups:

• 2011: 10 books for a summer field trip
• 2010: Season's readings in science
• 2010: Tales for summer science odysseys
• 2009: Science by the book
• 2009: Books for an Apollo summer
• 2007: Season's readings for grown-ups
• 2007: Season's readings for kids
• 2007: Escape into summer sci-fi
• 2005: Literary adventures (scroll down)
• Cosmic Log archive on books
• Cosmic Log Used Book Club

Add your own book recommendations as comments below ... and don't forget to send in your Science Geek Gift suggestions for this year's contest. You could win a pile of books, including "Science Ink," "The Cult of Lego," "The Physics Book" and "The Case for Pluto."

Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or following the Cosmic Log Google+ page. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Julien Behal / AP file

A customer drinks a pint of Guinness, in the Gravity bar at the Guinness storehouse, Dublin, in this file photo.

On St. Patrick's Day, many a pensive imbiber will shake their empty can of Guinness stout and hear the rattle of the widget that gave their beer a foamy head. That idle pleasure could come to an end. Now, a patch of cellulose fibers is all that's needed to get the magical foam, according to new research.

The makers of Guinness started adding the widget to cans of Guinness Draught in the 1980s. The plastic device sits in the top of the can and when the can is opened, the widget spews nitrogen and beer. This helps give the canned stout the same foamy head and creamy mouth feel as a pint poured in a pub.

Researchers at the University of Limerick previously showed that when champagne and other carbonated drinks are poured in a glass, bubbles form as the liquid hits fibers of cellulose — essentially dirt — on the surface of the glass.

"The cellulose fibers will either have been shed from the cloth used to wipe the glass dry or will have fallen out of the air," William Lee, a lecturer in mathematics and statistics, who led the research, writes in a Q&A about the findings.

Applied to stout
The team, however, thought this mechanism didn't apply to stout because when a canned stout without a widget is poured in a glass, bubbles didn't form. This was thought to be due to the fact that nitrogen is added to stouts to reduce the acidity brought on by carbon dioxide.  

But to double check, they put an intern on the case who found that bubbles do form, albeit much more slowly. To see the bubbles, watch the video below.

The team notes that stouts have a mix of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Nitrogen gives the small bubbles that make the nice creamy head, but the bubbles grow much more slowly. To make the bubble formation in stouts faster, but without the use of a widget, the researchers propose lining the top of cans with a 2.9 centimeter square of fibrous material positioned so that the stout flows past it as it is poured out of the can, according to Lee.

In a pub, Guinness is dispensed at high pressures through a plate with tiny holes in it, Lee explains. The resulting turbulence creates the tiny bubbles that are created by a widget in a can. The widget, Guinness says, gives canned beer the taste and texture of a pub-poured pint at home.

"Maybe this new idea will give them a replacement for the widget," Mark Denny, author of "Froth: The Science of Beer," told me today. "Time marches on and this may or may not be a less expensive alternative."

Is Guinness best in Ireland?
All this thinking about the science of beer and Guinness in particular leads to another, perhaps more subjective, question that has occupied drinkers of the creamy stout for decades: is a pub-poured pint of Guinness the same all around the world?

Yes, according to the brand's Website. "We always use pure, fresh water from natural local sources for the Guinness stout brewed outside Ireland. That said, in blind tests (with a bunch of highly cynical journalists) none of our sample could tell the difference between Irish-brewed Guinness and the locally produced variety."

That sample must not have included Daniel Kotz, Liam Glynn, Christian Mallen, or Jochen Cals, a group of researchers from different countries who traveled around the world to collect data on the enjoyment of Guinness. They found it is indeed best in Ireland.

As they traveled and sampled Guinness at various pubs, they rated their enjoyment on a "Visual Analog Scale" from 0 (enjoyed it not at all) to 100 (enjoyed it very much). A total of 103 tastings were recorded (42 in Ireland, 61 elsewhere) in 71 pubs spread over 33 cities and 14 countries. The enjoyment of Guinness in Ireland scored higher, 74 on the scale, than outside the country, 57 on the scale.

"This difference remained statistically significant after adjusting for researcher, pub ambience, Guinness appearance, and the sensory measures mouth feel, flavor, and aftertaste," the teams writes in the March 1 issue of the Journal of Food Science.

"This study is the first to provide scientific evidence that Guinness does not travel well and that the enjoyment of Guinness (for our group of nonexpert tasters) was higher when in Ireland. Results, however, are subject to further verification because of limitations in the study design," they add.

Denny, who has a PhD in theoretical physics from Edinburgh University and is a fan of Guinness, agrees that "Guinness in Ireland tastes better than Guinness anywhere else … but I wouldn't say it is due to the fact that it doesn't travel well necessarily because, for example, Guinness brews its beer in other parts of the world."

Rather, he suspects the beer is tweaked to suit local tastes. The Guinness poured in Ireland is "thicker, got more body to it, (and) that beautiful head on top is so thick it is almost like meringue," he said.

More stories on the science of alcoholic drinks:

• How to pour that drink, scientifically
• Building a better bar bot
• Happy (hic) birthday, canned beer!
• Ancient Nubians drank beer laced with antibiotics
• Space beer headed for zero-gravity bar

John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by hitting the "like" button on the Cosmic Log Facebook page or following msnbc.com's science editor, Alan Boyle, on Twitter (@b0yle).

James Lewis, West Virginia University

When a person falls in love, a network of 12 regions of the brain are activated. The system is responsible for the emotion, reward, and intellectual stimulation of love.

Love may be felt in our heart and stomach, but the act of falling in love is driven by 12 specific regions of the brain and, in fact, is intellectually stimulating, according to brain imaging research.

"Your brain can be passionately in love before you know it," Stephanie Ortigue, an assistant professor psychology and neurology at Syracuse University in New York told me today.

That's because we can't "feel" activation in our brains the same way we feel our heart rate speeding up or butterflies dancing in our stomach at the sight of our beloved. Instead, the unconscious brain sends a signal to the body that says "'Hey, there is something going on here,'" she said.

These emotions can then feed back into the brain, generating a self-perpetuating cycle of love. In other words, love may be kick-started in the brain, but it's a two-way street between body and mind.

"People always asks me, what falls in love, is it the heart or the brain," Ortigue said. "And I like to answer that it's the person who falls in love."

Three brain systems
By analyzing brain scans of people falling in love, she and colleagues found that 12 areas of the brain work in tandem to release dopamine, oxytocin, adrenaline and vasopressin — chemicals that are associated with pleasure, trust and sexual arousal.

"It is a very specific network in the brain, and within this network we could say that there are three main systems that are activated," Ortigue said.

The first system is emotional, but love is more than pure fleeting emotions that last for minutes. The second system is the motivational system, the system that is activated when you expect rewarding experiences. This same system is activated when under the influence of cocaine.

"That's why some people believe that love is an addiction, because indeed love activates some areas of the brain that are involved in addiction," she noted.

But there is more to love than emotion and addiction. It is also a complex mental process. "It is very intellectual in a way. We have a real concept of love," she said. As proof of the mental taxation of love, consider the drawn-out healing process it takes to mend a broken heart. (Or is it really a broken brain?)

Soul minds?
Earlier research showed that the cognitive areas of the brain stimulated by love are related to self-image, which may explain the expressions of finding a "soulmate" and one's "better half," Ortigue noted.

This may also have implications for treating people who have a distorted self-image, or disorders such as anorexia. Treatment of the neurological self-image issues could lead to healthier relationships.

"We all know that when love doesn't go well, everything goes wrong," she said.

And on Valentine's Day, we all want to have that someone special to share a box of heart-shaped candy — or should that be brain-shaped candy instead?

Ortigue chuckled at the suggestion, then steered our conversation away from the shape of candy to a re-casting of how we identify our beloved. "Instead of saying we are soulmates, maybe it would be great to say we are soul minds."

You could try that line with your honey tonight, of one of these 14 other ways to find greater happiness in your love life.

The brain imaging research appears in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

More stories on the science of love:

• How your brain handles love and pain
• Technology that makes the heart grow fonder
• The science of love, lust and infatuation
• Learnin' about lovin' from ... video games?
• Interactive: A roadmap for your brain

Check out this graphic from Scientific American for details on brain activation for romantic love and other flavors of affection.

John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by hitting the "like" button on the Cosmic Log Facebook page or following msnbc.com's science editor, Alan Boyle, on Twitter (@b0yle).

Mary Altaffer / AP

Workers hold the cables for the New Year's Eve ball today during a test on top of One Times Square in New York.

As you head out to ring in the New Year, take a cue from that iconic ball in Times Square. It sips its juice rather than guzzling it, and glows brighter than ever.

The ball, which drops 77 feet down a pole as New Yorkers count down the final minute to 2011, is lit by 32,256 Philips LEDs (light-emitting diodes), with each 48-diode module using just 22 watts of electricity. As a result, the lights consume about the same amount of energy per hour as it takes to operate two traditional home ovens.

But that energy frugality doesn't mean New York is skimping on the bling: Each light can be digitally controlled to create a palette of more than 16 million colors and billions of possible lighting effects.

The ball is a geodesic sphere, 12 feet in diameter and weighing 11,875 pounds. It's covered with 2,688 Waterford crystal triangles that are cut in different patterns. This year, 288 of the triangles are emblazoned with a new heart-themed glass pattern called "Let There Be Love." (The other 2,400 triangles feature patterns from past years.)

Times Square's first New Year's ball drop took place in 1907, with 100 light bulbs mounted on an iron-and-wood frame. Philips has been lighting the ball for 11 years, beginning with an array of specially designed halogen bulbs for the 1999-2000 celebration. The company replaced the halogen with LED technology for 2008, and used even more efficient LEDs starting with the New Year's celebration for 2009.

"Today's ball is lit all year round and uses just 12 percent of the energy that would have been required to light it with the original technology," Philips said in a press release.

The numerals that light up to display "2011" are also all-LED, and consume about as much power as a 40-gallon home water heater, Philips said. Over the past month, visitors to New York have been stopping by Duracell's Smart Power Lab to pedal a stationary bike and generate electricity for the "2011" numerals. The "Final Pedal" celebrity event took place just today. On New Year's Eve, all that stored-up pedal power will help ring in the new year.

How would you make things even more energy-efficient for 2012? Do you have some "green" resolutions for the new year? Feel free to discuss the alternative energy outlook for the next 12 months in your comments below.

Update for 5:45 p.m. ET by Alan Boyle: It almost takes an electrician to figure out the wattage of the Times Square ball — and compare it to household electrical use. When Philips says it takes 22 watts to produce the light level that previously required 180 watts, it's talking about the 48-LED modules used in the ball. That's 12 LEDs each for red, blue, green and white. The ball has 672 of those 22-watt modules, which means the entire ball would require 14,784 watts of electricity. The comparison to traditional home ovens would be valid if you were running two 7.5-kilowatt cooking appliances continuously at full blast — which would make the kitchen blazing-hot.

John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by hitting the "like" button on the Cosmic Log Facebook page or following msnbc.com's science editor, Alan Boyle, on Twitter (@b0yle).