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dubious studies
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Were the "good old days" better for our brains? A new study out of Scotland says that just 20 minutes of housework boosts your mental health and eases stress and anxiety. In another study, researchers from Norway have found that farm animals are therapeutic for people with mental illness. Patients who worked with farm animals for 3 hours twice a week for 12 weeks showed positive effects on their quality of life and ability to cope. So basically we should all be housewives for Tibetan goatherds or something. Who's in? [UPI, EurekAlert]
The Look Of Love
Can you look at someone's face and tell if he's looking for long-term love? Researchers at Durham University think so. In a study about attractiveness — and what men and women are attracted to, scientists created these digital images. One guy pictured wants a serious girlfriend; the other guy wants a quick shag. Think you can guess which is which? (Click the picture to see the answer.) [The Sun]
dubious studies
dubious studies
Some Women Will Do Anything To Justify A Shoe-Obsession
My name is Megan, and this is but a portion of my collection of high heels. I recognize that this might be a problem, but I'm 5'4", and I have short muscle fibers (i.e., stumpy legs) which kept me from being in the front row at ballet recitals and now prevent me from looking cute in flats. This, you see, is how I justify my purchase of stiletto-heeled shoes, despite the fact that they sometimes hurt my feet, back or hips. But now I have another excuse: Sex! According to reports today, Dr. Maria Cerruto, an Italian urologist who felt it necessary to medically justify her high heel obsession, has found that wearing heels can improve a woman's sex life. More »
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Men (Wrongly) Think They're Smarter Than They Are
Newsweek has an interview with British researcher Adrian Furnham, who is a professor of psychology at University College London. While scientists know that men and women are fairly equal in terms of IQ, Furnham studies perceived smarts. He says he's found that "women, across the world, tend to underplay their intelligence, while men overstate it." Sigh. Continues Furnham: "Men are more confident about their IQ. These studies show that on average, women underestimate their IQ scores by about five points while men overestimate their own IQs. Since these studies were international in scope, the results were essentially the same whether women were from Argentina, America, Britain, Japan or Zimbabwe." Not only that, but Furnham says that both genders tend to believe that their fathers are smarter than their mothers and grandfathers are more intelligent than their grandmothers. And guess what? Parents tend to think their sons are brighter than their daughters. Where have we gone wrong? More »
Thick Chicks
Did your dad call you "hard-headed"? Mine did. All the time. "You're hard-headed and you don't listen." Anna says her dad said it to her, too, along with, "You ask a lot of questions." Well a new study has found that, surprise!, women have thicker skulls than men. They don't seem to know why, but we suspect it's to annoy parents. [UPI]
Did your dad call you "hard-headed"? Mine did. All the time. "You're hard-headed and you don't listen." Anna says her dad said it to her, too, along with, "You ask a lot of questions." Well a new study has found that, surprise!, women have thicker skulls than men. They don't seem to know why, but we suspect it's to annoy parents. [UPI]
Measuring Up
Hey, a new way to lose at the genetic lottery! A new study has found that short babies are twice as likey to have a suicide attempt as adults, even if their growth "catches up" in childhood. A separate study by the University of Poland has found that long legs are sexier: The researchers had volunteers rate the attractiveness of male and female images, altered so that thy were the same height but had leg lengths that varied. The viewers preferred legs that were 5% longer than average. Can't a short-legged girl get some love? [BBC News, New Scientist]
Hey, a new way to lose at the genetic lottery! A new study has found that short babies are twice as likey to have a suicide attempt as adults, even if their growth "catches up" in childhood. A separate study by the University of Poland has found that long legs are sexier: The researchers had volunteers rate the attractiveness of male and female images, altered so that thy were the same height but had leg lengths that varied. The viewers preferred legs that were 5% longer than average. Can't a short-legged girl get some love? [BBC News, New Scientist]
Researchers have "discovered" that children are afraid of clowns. And it's not just the wee ones: In a study reported in Nursing Standard, "found all the 250 patients aged between four and 16 they quizzed disliked the use of clowns, with even the older ones finding them scary." Says Penny Curtis, a senior lecturer at the University of Sheffield: "As adults we make assumptions about what works for children. Some found [clowns] quite frightening and unknowable." Next week, expect researchers to "discover" that kids are afraid of the dark. Monsters are on high alert. [Reuters]
dubious studies
Sympathy For The Modern Man? Uh, No.
Stickers seen on the streets of New York and the ABC show Big Shots make the same assertion: Men are the new women. And a new survey says men sorta agree! According to Telegraph, "more than half of men believe the world is dominated by females and that they have lost their traditional role in society." This is not a joke! Two thousand men and women were polled by some random television entertainment channel, and 52% of the males said that men have to live by women's rules. More than half of the men polled said they think "society tries to feminize them" and only 33% feel that they can speak freely and say what they think — the rest find it "safer and easier" to keep their opinions to themselves. More »
dubious studies
Women: Good Drivers One Year, Bad Ones The Next
A new study says gay men and straight women share a poor sense of direction and straight men are better drivers. Psychologists at the University of London employed a virtual-reality scenario in which volunteers had to swim through an underwater maze to find a hidden platform or explore an environment and find "rewards." The gays and the women didn't do too well! ("The results back earlier studies supporting the stereotype that women are poor navigators. Although women are more successful in tests requiring them to remember the position of objects, men consistently do better in tasks requiring navigation and uncovering hidden objects.")
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