Loneliness hurts. It is psychologically【C1】_____and so physically unhealthy that being lonely【C2】__the likeli-hood of an earlier death by 26 percent.【C3】__the feeling may serve a purpose. Scientists【C4】__that it hurts so much because, like hunger and thirst, loneliness acts as a【C5】__alarm bell. The ache of it drives us to seek out social【C6】__just as hunger pangs urge us to eat. The idea is【C7】_____satisfying, yet it has long proved difficult to test in humans.

On March 26, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology posted a【C8】_____report on bio-Rxv. It was the first study in humans to show that both loneliness and hunger【C9】__signals deep in a part of the brain that【C10】__very basic impulses for reward and motivation. The findings point【C11】_____one telling conclusion: our need to connect is apparently as fundamental as our need to eat.

The extraordinary scientific timing of the paper’s release—just as tens of millions of people were suddenly starved for contact in the special period of 2020—was【C12】_____intentional. When they began the work three years ago, neuroscientists Livia Tomova and Rebecca Saxe and their colleagues wanted to demonstrate how loneliness operates in the brain. They were【C13】_____by similar research in animals and by the pioneering loneliness studies.

The【C14】_____, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, describes a【C15】__designed experiment using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare brain responses【C16】__loneliness and hunger.【C17】__a baseline brain scan, 40 adult participants【C18】__two 10-hour sessions: one in which they were【C19】__food and another where they were denied social contact. The sessions served as control conditions for each other. “They show a really strong wanting response,” Tomova says. “It’s quite established that this【C20】_____the dopaminergic response.”

The technology industry is at war over intellectual property. On May 7th the first【C1】_____of a three-part fight between Oracle and Google over patent and copyright claims relating to the Java programming language ended in a decision that denied outright victory to either firm. Apple, Samsung and others are【C2】__over smartphone patents. Facebook are at【C3】__with Yahoo! over internet patents. Accusations abound【C4】__innovation is taking a【C5】_____seat to lawsuits. Only the lawyers are smiling.

All of【C6】_____makes this a good time to【C7】__a new approach to trading intellectual property, says Gerard Pannekoek, the boss of IPXI, a new financial【C8】__that lets companies buy, sell and hold patent rights, just like any other【C9】__. The idea is to offer a patent or group of patents as “unitlicence rights” (ULRs), which can be bought and sold like【C10】__. A ULR【C11】__a one-time right to use a particular technology in a 12 product: a new type of airbag sensor in a car,【C13】_____. If a company wants to use the technology in 100,000 cars, it buys 100,000 ULRs at the market price. ULRs are also expected to be traded on secondary markets.

This is simpler, faster and cheaper than the lawyer-intensive process of negotiating bilateral licences for intellectual property, the high cost of which discriminates【C14】_____small companies, leaves patents unused on the shelf and【C15】__innovation. IPXI’s approach does not【C16】__for all types of intellectual property—it does not【C17】__exclusive licensing, for example—but should make it【C18】_____for companies to make money from their inventions. “It’s a good form of funding for start-ups,” suggests Mr. Pannekoek.

The exchange has【C19】_____30 members including Philips, an electronics giant, and several universities and research laboratories. On May 4th IPXI published the rulebook that【C20】_____how the exchange will work, and it expects to open for business later this year. Its novel approach is ideal for the open, non-exclusive licensing of smartphone-related patents, says Ruud Peters, chief intellectual-property officer at Philips.