A study designed to help the guys in the lab get some
Curvy women may be a clever bet
BBC.com reports that researchers studied 16,000 women and girls and found the more voluptuous performed better on cognitive tests - as did their children.
The bigger the difference between a woman's waist and hips the better.
Researchers writing in Evolution and Human Behaviour speculated this was to do with fatty acids found on the hips.
In this area, the fat is likely to be the much touted Omega-3, which could improve the woman's own mental abilities as well as those of her child during pregnancy.
Men respond to the double enticement of both an intelligent partner and an intelligent child, the researchers at the Universities of Pittsburgh and California said.
The findings appear to be borne out in the educational attainments of at least one of the UK's most famous curvaceous women, Nigella Lawson, who graduated from Oxford.
But experts are not convinced by the findings.
"On the fatty deposits being related to intelligence front, it's very hard to detangle that from other factors, such as social class, for instance, or diet," said Martin Tovee of Newcastle University.
"And much as we logically like the idea that men are interested in the waist to hip ratio, it actually features relatively low down the list of feature males look for in a potential partner."
Researchers writing in Evolution and Human Behaviour speculated this was to do with fatty acids found on the hips. Boy those guys at E&HB, sure know how to sweet talk a woman.
“Why am I staring there? Has anyone ever told you how smart you look?"
Scientists admit there’s a lot of dirty things they don’t know yet.
New Study Suggests Many Unknown Microbes in Soil
ScienceDaily (Nov. 12, 2007) — Metagenomic analysis of microbial biodiversity in soil samples suggest that non-bacterial species greatly outnumber bacterial species. This means the majority of microorganisms on the Earth remain undiscovered, according to researchers from the University of Colorado, University of South Florida, San Diego State University and Duke University.
Soil microorganisms represent a significant portion of living matter on Earth and play a key role in ecosystem functions. Bacteria, fungi, archaea and viruses are the four microbial groups currently known to man. Bacterial presence in soil has been the most extensively studied, however with the environment at the forefront of worldwide focus, expanded research on fungal, archaeal, and viral communities is much needed.
In the study researchers used an RNA-based analysis technique to examine the richness of bacteria, fungi, archaea, and viruses in samples collected from prairie, desert, and rainforest soils. These sites were specifically targeted because they represent globally dominated ecosystem types and are broad in aridity and productivity. Results showed that unique archaeal or fungal units appeared to rival or exceed unique bacterial units in each of the soil samples.
Breaking news: Young people away from home hook up—no, really
One In Five Young Britons Has Sex With Someone New While Abroad
ScienceDaily (Nov. 10, 2007) — Around one in five young Britons has sex with a new partner while overseas, finds research published ahead of print in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.
And they are apparently opting for British or European sexual partners in the belief that this minimises the chances of HIV infection, but seemingly unawares of their risks of contracting other sexually transmitted infections.
The findings are based on interviews with a random sample of 12,000 men and women aged between 16 and 44, who took part in the 2000 National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL).
Just under 14% of men, and just over 7% of women, said they had sex with someone new while overseas, with this type of liaison accounting for one in 10 of all men's partnerships and one in 20 of women's in the past five years.
The young and single were the most likely to have sex with someone new while overseas.
Almost one in four men (23%) and one in six women (17%) between the ages of 16 and 24 said they had done this.
Half of all respondents said their overseas partners were British, and more than one in three said these were from another European country.
This is likely to reflect choice of destination as three quarters of overseas trips in 2005 were to European countries, but it may also indicate perceived risk, say the authors.
When quizzed about potential HIV risk, respondents cited North America, Thailand, and Kenya as high risk, and as higher than Britain.
Yet one in 10 men and one in 12 women who said they had had sex while overseas assessed their HIV risk as high or moderately high.
Men were significantly more likely to have sex with Asian and North American partners.
So, if there were more country songs about scientists, kids wouldn’t get high? Oh yeah, we believe that.
One Of Every Three Popular Songs Contains References To Substance Use
ScienceDaily (Nov. 11, 2007) — Know what your kids are listening to when they’re blocking you out with their iPod earbuds firmly in place? If they are listening to popular music, chances are high that they are hearing references to substance use.
According to new research presented at the American Public Health Association’s Annual Meeting & Exposition in Washington, D.C., 33 percent of the most popular songs of 2005 portrayed substance use. The study, in which researchers analyzed 279 of the year’s most popular songs according to Billboard magazine, also found that allusions to substance use varied widely by genre.
Rap music led the way with 77 percent of songs referring to substance use, followed by country at 37 percent and R&B/hip-hop at 20 percent. Rock and pop were on the lower end of the spectrum at 14 percent and 9 percent, respectively.
Alcohol and marijuana were the substances most frequently portrayed. Substance use was commonly associated with partying, sex, violence and/or humor, and was most often motivated by peer/social pressure, sex, and/or money (for instance, through trafficking). The majority of songs with substance use portrayed more positive than negative consequences of use.
“Previous research has shown that exposure to substance use messages in media is linked to actual substance use in adolescents,” said Brian A. Primack, MD, EdM, lead researcher on the study. “That is why we need to be aware of exposures such as these, especially when they are associated with highly positive consequences and associations.”
“Previous research has shown that exposure to substance use messages in media is linked to actual substance use in adolescents,” said Brian A. Primack, MD, EdM…
We don’t know much, but it always seemed that exposure to somebody who actually had a joint was more a link to getting high than the lyrics to a Travis Tritt song. Even if the lyrics could make you feel “ten feet tall and bulletproof.” At least, that's what the older guys on the corner told us.
Headlines of the day
Man hits the jackpot with car wash change machine (The Obscure Store)
Universe may weigh less than thought (MSNBC)
Looks like that Jenny Craig thing must work
Kangaroo tramples kid, evades officers (CNN)
Too bad they couldn't work in Maruding Marsupial.
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