Giovanni Frazzetto

Understanding Intimacy through Science

What is intimacy, and can science help us understand it?

From sex and online hook-ups to lasting friendship and life-long marital bonds, or in births and farewells, intimacy assumes several guises behind which individuals flatten emotional barriers. Meaningful connections are an effective antidote to loneliness, yet we live in a world in which it’s easier to isolate rather than attach.

Why do we crave intimacy and why are we sometimes scared of it?

With the help of storytelling, Giovanni Frazzetto will guide us through the depths of some of the most intimate relationships in our lives.

Frazzetto is the author of the bestselling book on the neuroscience of feelings entitled ‘Joy, Guilt, Anger and Love’, translated in 13 languages and selected among The Guardian Best Books of Psychology in 2013.

Frazzetto was born and grew up in Sicily. After high school, he moved to London to study science at University College London and, in 2002, he received a PhD from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany. Since he was a student, he has worked and written on the relationship between science, society and culture, publishing in journals such as Nature and Science.   In 2008, Frazzetto received the John Kendrew Young Scientist Award for his inspirational and creative achievements at the interface between neuroscience, the arts and the humanities.

His new book on the daily art of intimacy comes out in February 2017.

He now lives in Dún Laoghaire (Dublin), Ireland.