Dirty song lyrics can prompt early teen sex

Teens whose iPods are full of music with raunchy, sexual lyrics start having sex sooner than those who prefer other songs, a study found.

I'm sure this is true. I know I never even personally thought about sex at all until I got that 2 Live Crew album for my brithday. Now all I can think about are Hoochie Mamas.

Most participants were virgins when they were first questioned in 2001. Follow-up interviews were done in 2002 and 2004 to see if music choice had influenced subsequent behavior.

Human species 'may split in two'

Evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics expects a genetic upper class and a dim-witted underclass to emerge.

Assuming you believe in evolution of course.

But in the nearer future, humans will evolve in 1,000 years into giants between 6ft and 7ft tall, he predicts, while life-spans will have extended to 120 years, Dr Curry claims.

And it goes on and on....

Social skills, such as communicating and interacting with others, could be lost, along with emotions such as love, sympathy, trust and respect. People would become less able to care for others, or perform in teams.

Pretty bleak outlook. I guess that current assumed trends predict future trends? All of this stuff appears to be pulled out of nowhere. I guess that's the beauty of being an evolutionary theorist.

Shaving habits linked to stroke risk

Shaving less than once a day could increase a man's risk of having a stroke by around 70%, researchers have found.

Well, that really narrows it down. If it's the infrequent shaving - it must be that shortish facial hair causes stroke. Or - maybe it's the fact that facial hair grows faster when it's just been cut. That's true, right? Someone told me that.

Researchers from the University of Bristol say it is more likely to be because a man needed to shave infrequently, due to having less testosterone in their bodies.

However, even after all the factors were considered, researchers found they were had a 70% increased risk of having a stroke and a 30% increased risk of dying from any cause. It was also found that 45% of men who shaved less frequently died from all causes during the course of the study, compared to 31% of daily shavers.

Are Women Better Drivers?

The study included a small group of healthy young adults -- 20 women and 22 men aged 18-35. They took tests of spatial memory, planning, attention, motor control, and rule learning. Women consistently outscored men in learning rules and shifting attention. Those skills are helpful for drivers, notes Fox. She works at the U.K.'s University of Bradford School of Pharmacy.

That's funny - I didn't realize that learning rules and shifting attention were the key factors in being a good driver. Was the driving comment JUST to get press?

Fox says that estrogen -- women's main sex hormone -- may make a difference in those areas. "Our study suggests that estrogens may positively influence neuronal activity in the frontal lobes, the area of the brain stimulated by tasks of attention and rule learning, which could explain the female advantage when performing these tasks," she says.

A lot of maybes here. So MAYBE estrogen is the factor directly causing women to have more activity in the frontal lobes, and MAYBE that would explain a female advantage. MAYBE an advantage on these tasks makes women better drivers. Or maybe there's another difference between men and women besides estrogen.

Creativity linked to sexual success

You know, some of my friends have had a lot of sexual partners but maybe only one night with each of them. I never really considered them successful. If you can get past the notion that the number of sexual partners indicates sexual success, we can get to the real spuriousness.

"It could be that very creative types lead a bohemian lifestyle and tend to act more on sexual impulses and opportunities, often purely for experience's sake, than the average person would," said Nettle.

Artists and poets are both creative, and they both have lots of sex, so creativity must give you more sex, right? Only problem is, I know lots of very creative scientists who don't get much action...

What are some other things about artists and poets that set them apart from other professions and so would be a more likely causal link? Well, they have no money - maybe having no money induces people to make up for it with sex. Hmm, what else? Well, artists and poets can't get a real job. Maybe not being able to get a real job makes you attractive to people. Maybe the fact that artists and poets never really attain fulfillment makes them sluttier. I'm sure we'll see a follow up study, the way the media's picking this one up.

Marijuana: It's More Harmful Than We Thought…Especially for Girls

A recent study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University in New York found that one in four ninth-grade girls who were sexually active reported using alcohol or drugs at the time they last had sex. With marijuana by far the most widely used illicit drug among teens today, parents of teen girls should take note of the widely underestimated risks of using marijuana.

Let's trace the logical jumps here: (1) Some girls used drugs when they had sex -> the drugs caused them to have sex. (2) Marijuana is the most widely used drug -> the girls were using marijuana. (3) Marijuana caused the girls to have sex.

Marijuana or alcohol can cloud judgment and decision-making, increasing girls' vulnerability to sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. In fact, one study found that teens who have used marijuana are four times more likely to have gotten pregnant or to have gotten someone pregnant than teens who have never smoked pot.

Yes, parents, it's the drugs causing the moral corruption of your children! It wasn't your parenting! Now you can stop feeling guilty about never giving them enough of your time and energy and love when they were growing up. Phew.

Also nice is this "warning signs of marijuana use" checklist... 3 out of 5 of which could be signs of major depression, and one of which could just be a sign of a dirty room.

• Bloodshot eyes or clothes that smell of smoke
• Isolation, depression, fatigue or anxiety
• A decline in school performance or attendance
• A change in sleeping or eating habits
• Use of incense or room deodorizer

Study: Smoking Lowers IQ

Researchers found the effect of smoking on memory, problem-solving and IQ was most pronounced among men who were long-term smokers. The negative effect of smoking on the brain remained significant in alcoholic men after alcohol and drug use were taken into account.

The study showed a correlation (among alcholic men) of long term smoking and lower IQ's. Once again, the media has run away with spurious causality, while the scientists in this case seem more level-headed.

"We can't say that we've found a cause-and-effect relationship between smoking and decreased thinking ability," said researcher Dr. Jennifer Glass, a research assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Michigan, in a news release.

Poor Dr. Glass. Despite her comment, the article is labelled "Smoking Lowers IQ". Nevermind that maybe people with lower IQ's are more likely to become long term smokers, or that some third factor, like socio-economic status, might influence both.

Early Retirement May Mean Earlier Death

In a prospective cohort study of thousands of employees who worked at Shell Oil, the investigators found that embarking on the Golden Years at age 55 doubled the risk for death before reaching age 65, compared with those who toiled beyond age 60.

What about the possibility that people with preexisting health conditions retire early due to the conditions?

However, data were not available to assess directly whether poor health was a significant factor, and it is not clear why continued employment led to longer life, the researchers wrote.

Notice the assumption here that "continued employment LED to longer life", even though it's not clear.

Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side'

Oh, you thought that your religion was making you so moral and just.

Religious belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today.

In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion in the prosperous democracies.

Will he cheat? How to tell

Ladies, you probably think that it's just in his nature. He can't help it - he HAS to cheat. But here's the sad truth: you're not feeding him enough.

If you're worried your guy might cheat, try checking out his waistline. A new study says the size of his belly may reveal whether he'll stray.

What's going on here? A lack of testosterone, the hormone that fuels a guy's sex drive. "The larger a man's stomach is, the less testosterone he's likely to have," says Harry Fisch, M.D.,

Children who eat fries raise breast cancer risk

Now, is it really the fries consumed at ages 3 to 5 that are causing the breast cancer? Is that when the cancer originates? Or is it possible, just possible, that having high fat french-fry-laden diets at ages 3 to 5 is linked with having high fat diets later. And THAT, as the article says, is linked to breast cancer.

Nutrition: Good Grades for Breakfast

Researchers reviewed 47 nutrition studies and concluded that children and adolescents who ate breakfast had better mental function and better school attendance records than those who did not. And breakfast eaters, even though they consumed more calories, were less likely to be overweight than those who skipped breakfast.

The number of possible explanations for this finding is staggering.

They suggested several possible reasons. For example, eating breakfast may modulate short-term metabolic responses to fasting, cause changes in neurotransmitter concentrations or simply eliminate the distracting physiological effects of hunger.

Couldn't it also be said that students with poor attendance are more likely to sleep in, thus skipping breakfast? What about that young children eat what they are given: if a parent cares enough to give their child a balanced breakfast, then it seems more likely that that parent will give the child support and encouragement in other areas of life - such as academics and learning. No wonder the authors didn't try to control for socioeconomic factors.

Does it pay to be a flirt?

I'm sure that all the male employers will be happy to hear this.

Women who cross their legs provocatively, wear short skirts or massage a man's shoulders at work get fewer pay raises and promotions, according to Friday's USA Today.

It couldn't possibly be that the women who are the most unqualified for the promotion are the ones who resort to relying on their sexuality.

Meat makes you fat

This article studied people that were already either vegetarian, semi-vegetarian, vegan, or meat eaters, and it concluded that since the meat eaters are more likely to be obese, meat makes you fat, and if you stop eating it, you'll lose weight. Could it be that vegetarians are just more health conscious than meat eaters, not that the meat is what is making people obese? Though they did control for calories and excercise, the article itself even states:

While vegetarians definitely eat more carbohydrates than meat-eaters, those carbs tend to be healthier, including fruits, vegetables and whole grains. These carbs are packed with fiber, which help you feel full and are important nutrients for good overall health.

So isn't the article itself saying that even for the food groups that both carnivores and veg-heads eat, the vegetarians are picking healthier options? Why then, why, would they conclude that the meat is making the obese people fat? Why? Why is this article called "Skip this food. You'll weigh less."?

Mind May Affect Machines

Using random event generators -- computers that spew random output -- they have participants focus their intent on controlling the machines' output. Out of several million trials, they've detected small but "statistically significant" signs that minds may be able to interact with machines.

Even though the researchers "are careful not to claim that minds cause an effect or that they know the nature of the communication", what else would they be implying could possibly be the cause of such an event? They are talking about human intention here: if the intention isn't the cause, then is there a common cause which affects both human intention AND the machine?

It seems obvious that they do believe the intention is casual. This is a little worrisome, given that they accept both positive and negative correlations as evidence. What isn't evidence, then? Also worrisome is the fact that this lab isn't funded by the university.

There is very little that the researchers understand about the phenomenon, but they do know that results aren't affected by distance or time. Participants, for example, can have the same effect on a machine from outside the room or across the country. They can also have the same effect if they have the intention before the REG is turned on or even if they read a book or listen to music while the machine is running.

Seems to me the logical conclusion is that participants don't have an effect on the machine.

Summertime, and the workplace is chilly

Ah, another excuse for not finishing your work. A hotter office makes you more productive. I immediately started wondering if maybe the productive workers created this extra heat.

When the office temperature was turned up, from 68 degrees to 77 degrees Fahrenheit, typing errors fell by 44% and overall typing output increased by 150% — gaining companies an extra $2 per worker in productivity, according to the 2004 study by Cornell University professor Alan Hedge.

As it turns out, the researcher just didn't control for time of day in the analysis. I guess it didn't cross his mind that time of day would influence office productivity or office temperature.

Juggling too many tasks could make you stupid

Quick, close all those other windows on your computer...

A growing body of scientific research shows one of jugglers' favorite time-saving techniques, multitasking, can actually make you less efficient and, well, stupider.

Apparently the fact that there is a performance cost to switching back and forth between tasks quickly or doing two unrelated tasks at once is equivalent to, well, becoming stupid. Are they claiming your IQ drops when you multitask? Wow. I feel stupider for having read that article.

Sex keeps you young

The spuriousness of this article is sort of shocking, given the obvious possibility that young looking people have more opportunitites to have sex.

Couples who have sex at least three times a week look more than 10 years younger than the average adult who makes love twice a week, says consultant neuro-psychologist Dr David Weeks, who has made a 10-year study of the subject.

"Pleasure derived from sex is a crucial factor in preserving youth. It makes us happy and produces chemicals telling us so," he claims.