While feminist blog The F Word wonders if the study is a bit simplistic, Catherine Price writes on Salon: "Many U.S. science, engineering or technology companies are complaining about an overall lack of American talent — a situation that will only get worse if the Bureau of Labor Statistics is correct in its prediction that from 2006 to 2016 jobs in these fields will grow 'five times faster than other sectors.'" Are we regressing to a time where science and technology are fields solely for men? Do we need more women like award-winning neuroscientist Susan Greenfield, whose delightful profile in the Independent is worth taking a moment to read. ("Many people like downhill skiing, or dancing, or wine, or sex, or food," says Greenfield. "Up until now, [pleasure seeking] has always been part of our lives but a polar opposite to seeking meaning. I fear we are shifting too much in favour of the literal, the hedonistic, the here and now, and losing meaning, context and content in favor of process... There's no point of living life if it's not fun.")

But part of the problem could be the image that scientists have in our collective unconscious. Researchers have found that the stereotype of mathematicians as geeks discourages students from studying math. A study by the Institute for Policy Studies in Education at the London Metropolitan University discovered:

Nearly all participants, both math-friendly students and those who steer clear of equations, think of a mathematician as a white male with white hair, who is obsessed with the number-laden subject to the exclusion of any social life. For instance, participants labeled Albert Einstein and John Nash (portrayed in the movie "A Beautiful Mind") as lacking social skills and as weird or not normal.

Focus On The Female Talent In The Backyard [Financial Times]
Sexist culture drives Women Out Of Science [Times Of London]
Sexist culture drives Women Out Of Science [The F Word]
Where Are All The Women Going? [Salon]
Susan Greenfield: The Girl With All The Brains [Independent]
Mathematicians Still Seen as Einsteins [Live Science]

[That picture is not of Sylvia Ann Hewlett or Susan Greenfield. It's a Russian post doctoral student working with DNA samples. Finding an image of a female scientist was difficult. Google image "doctor" and you get tons of images of men in white coats and a few images of female porn stars dressed as nurses to "play" doctor. Go figure.]

Earlier: French (Photo Retouchers) Don't Let Famous Women Get Fat

Earlier: I Can Has Jeetann? C'est LOLVogue En Faux Français
LOLVogue: Teh Hare Toss & Teh Bunnee Hop
LOLLost: Srsly, Guiz, Dis Izland Is Weeerd
LOLVogue: Tard Moddles & Bahlinceeyagga
Mon Dieu! C'est French LOLVogue: Shoulders, Champagne and Cigarettes
LOL'Vogue': Scarves, Silverware & Scooters
LOLVogue: Starving Models & Marionettes

These "personalized viewpoints" of beauty are what seemingly makes the world go 'round, but for people with body dysmorphic disorder, their overly personalized/distorted thoughts about their own looks often drive them to obsessive plastic surgery, eating disorders, and other bodily harm.

As pointed out in an article in the current issue of Scientific American, doctors used to think that body dysmorphic disorder (when a person becomes "pathologically preoccupied with an imagined or barely noticeable defect in his or her appearance") was caused by a combination of nature and nurture. As S.A. puts it, "Psychological factors such as low self-esteem, coupled with society's restrictive definition of physical beauty, are likely to play a role in the disorder." But more recently, psychiatrists and psychologists have found that people with BDD might have "unusually acute perceptual abilities," specifically an "overemphasis on visual details," which helps explain why they "worry so much about minuscule deviations in their features." Maybe so, but whether anyone is pathologically focused on details or robotically-concerned with making a model of "universal beauty," they're missing out on the more intangibly human aspects of attractiveness: a sexy laugh, a sparkling eye, a warm demeanor.

[Image via Mathemetician's Pictures.]

Earlier: South Park Takes A Trip To Heavy Metal

The overall slant of this writing is moderately to the left, an indication of a person who is somewhat introverted. Unless the writer knows you fairly well, you won't get close. It appears that there is little stress shown in the writing, and it's likely that even if somebody gets too close too fast, the writer will fend off and not erupt.

Letters are rounded, the sign of a methodical thinker who likes to take time and does not like to be rushed. No fast deadlines for this writer or she will tend to get scattered in her pursuits.

Writer's goals are alternately high enough to stretch for and low enough to pick off the ground. There are signs of initiative (takes action without prompting by others).

Thinking can be accelerated somewhat by the writer's intuition (indicated by spaces between letters). This writer has learned to skip over many of the logical building blocks of thought and reach, almost mysteriously, a conclusion that turns out to work. The writer has come to trust this gut thinking. Nonetheless, if this writer starts thinking too fast, a lot of confusion results (intertwined lines) that slows everything down again. Better for this writer to be the turtle than pretend to be the hare.

There are buds of an imagination, but no apparent follow through.

Good attention to small details. The writer's usual approach to things is frank and very direct.

The writer probably works well (or could) with her hands, perhaps in the mechanical realms such as carpentry, pottery, glass blowing..

Lines and letters are pressed close together and the e formations are constricted, all indications of a mind with many preconceptions that clog up the arteries to new ideas.

There are also indications of a person who usually tells the truth (as most of us may see it) and is steadfast and loyal to people and institutions she believes in.

Earlier: Heroes' Hayden Panettiere Is An American Everywoman
Cosmo Girl Rihanna: "Solitary & Self-Involved"
Decoding Cosmo Cover Girl Katie Heigl: "She Refuses To Waste Time With Convoluted Crap"
Cosmo Girl Hilary Duff: Intuitive, Practical And Younger Than She Looks
Cosmo Girl Beyonce Knowles: Detail-Oriented, Thoughtful, Possibly Power-Hungry
'Cosmo' Cover Girl Ali Larter: Self-Involved, Stubborn, Easily Distracted

Related: Sheila Kurtz [Graphology Consulting]

I am wont to believe him, having read the bestselling works of "Economic Hit Man" John Perkins, who clearly thought up his thesis of the world under the influence of ayahuasca. But what does it all mean?

That the Burning Bush was a hallucination, too? (Yes.) That religion is a fraud? (Duh!) That the moral codes we take for granted, chalking up to an amorphous mix of socialization and/or evolutionary biology and/or something resembling an innate human conscience was concocted under the influence of hallucinogens? THAT RELIGION IS LITERALLY THE OPIATE OF ALL THE PEOPLE WHO ARE TOO POOR FOR ACTUAL OPIATES???? Why yes! I mean, yeah yeah mood-altering substances bear responsibility for much of the world's bar violence/opportunistic adultery/convenience store theft. But, don't all the truly bad things happen at the hands of sober people and/or people newly off their meds? Yes they do. Is it to early for a drink? No it is not.

Moses Was High On Mt. Sinai [AFP}

Okay, so here's the first news. Basically what happened is a scientist found a bigger area of tissue between the urethra and the vagina among women who report vaginal orgasms.This would seem to jive with the idea that injecting the area with collagen can make any G-spot more sensitive, since collagen is, you know, "tissue." Now, other scientific G-spot experts claim this could just be due to the fact that women who report vaginal orgasms, um, work out that area more, and therefore the tissue is bigger on account of all the exercise, like with muscle. Could this explain why serious runners sometimes report spontaneous orgasms? Can you tell it's been fourteen years since my last biology class?? Fuck I'm old. Old and horny.

Ultrasound Nails Location Of Elusive G-Spot (Heh heh "nails") [New Scientist]
Vaginal Orgasm: Truth Or Myth [The F Word]

G-Shot Parties: A Shot At Better Sex? [ABC News]

• According to The National Domestic Violence Hotline, you may be in an emotionally abusive relationship if your partner (in this case, the show), tries to isolate you from family or friends. When you watch Lost, the world divides into two groups; those who also watch and those who don't. Even my own mother will be denied and ignored if she dares to call while I'm watching tonight. And heaven forbid if she asks, "What's the show about?"

• The wellness site Third Age asks, Do you feel as if your partner keeps you dangling on a string? Does he or she seem to have all of the emotional control? Does this make your own life feel out of control? Yes, yes and yes! Lost leaves you dangling, controls emotions, makes you fall in love with foxy foxes, no-goodniks and heart-melters, muddles their backstories, confuses whether they are good or bad and then snatches them away from you just when you thought you could count on seeing them shirtless once a week.
• Dr. Phil himself says a relationship might be abusive if your partner is making you afraid by using looks, gestures or actions. The black smoke is terrifying! So is Henry Gale/Ben Linus! So is the fact that people manifest things from their past — Kate's horse, Jack's dad? Another mark of the emotional abuser is if the person makes light of the abuse and doesn't take your concerns about it seriously. You think they listened when I begged, "Please don't kill Mr. Eko!"? No!
• You're being abused if your partner does not want you to work. Lost wants me to spend all day cross-referencing conspiracy theories, watching secret videos that may or may not hold insight and reading Hurley's blog. I just know it.
• Lastly, emotionally abusive partners are known for punishing by withholding affection. It's been eight months! As Emily Nussbaum says in New York Magazine today: "Basically, we're kind of like John Locke: Befriend us under false pretenses, steal our kidney, smash us through a window, toss us in a mass grave! You're still our daddy, and we'll follow you anywhere."

  What is Domestic Violence? [The National Domestic Violence Hotline]
  Are You in an Emotionally Abusive Relationship? [ThirdAge]
  Are You in an Emotionally Abusive Relationship? [Dr. Phil]
  Six Secret Lost Videos [10 Zen Monkeys]
  Emily Nussbaum on 'Lost': We Are John Locke [New York Magazine]

What Is An io9? [io9]
Related: Gawker Blasts Into Sci-Fi With New Blog, I09 [Wired]
Gawker Media Gets Strung Out On Sci-Fi [NY Times]