According to the Latest Research

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As a scientist I am sometimes embarrassed by the oddball research projects that some scientists spend grant money on.  Perhaps part of the problem is caused by newspaper headlines.

Recently my local paper ran a headline proclaiming that men find beautiful women distract them when they are trying to concentrate!  The principal researchers were from my own University, but I thought they were just proving the obvious.  Marketers have already proven that beautiful women in advertisements entice men to spend without logical reason.  The study also found that women could still think clearly and weigh the consequences of actions regardless of the presence of good looking men.

Despite the headline, the study did have a serious purpose associated with it — that is, the tendency of criminals to discount the consequences of their actions.  This part of the study showed that men think little about consequences when testosterone takes over.  So that negative outcomes are not a strong deterrent to behaviour.

Another recent study was headlined "red headed women are more sensitive."  The story was about an observation by an anesthesiologist that it took more anesthetic to put red headed woman to sleep than brunettes.  He found that red haired women needed twenty per cent more of the drug to numb their pain reflexes completely.  And there was a scientific explanation for this too!

So next time remember that not everything science discovers is of earth shattering importance.