Men like video games? Really.

Using an MRI and a ball-destroying, terratory-grabbing video game, scientists have now determined that men like agressive games more than women do.

Uh... Duh...

I suppose our good friends at Stanford University School of Medicine were trying to find connections in the brain to addiction, but this test on 22 young adults (11 men and 11 women) is a bit small to make huge conclusions.

Still, most gamers could tell you the idea is pretty accurate. Generally men like shooters, women like building or society forming type games.

In a story on Science Daily, the writer notes that:

"This research also suggests that males have neural circuitry that makes them more liable than women to feel rewarded by a computer game with a territorial component and then more motivated to continue game-playing behavior. Based on this, he said, it makes sense that males are more prone to getting hooked on video games than females."

I'm not sure that's the case. They need to test women on games like The Sims 2 or World of Warcraft before jumping to conclusions.

But hey, at least somebody's paying attention to the addled minds of us gamers.

Here's the full story:

Video Games Activate Reward Regions of Brain in Men More than Women

Cheers,
-SueVo

Pygmy dinosaurs! I want one!!

Nothing stupid about this one - but since I'm a dinosaur nut I thought I share this study.

A group in England found that a group of pygmy dinosaurs evolved on a subtropical island near Bristol.

The Bristol Dinosaur, Thecodontosaurus, grew to only about 7 feet tall, as opposed to it's 33-foot-tall cousins on the mainland.

The island or islands they lived on caught fire a lot, so it seems the poor little guys might have died in a wildfire.

Too bad, I'd love to have one as a backyard pet.

The group has a release here if you want to learn more:

Pygmy Dinosaur Inhabited Tropical Islands in Britain's Prehistoric Past

Cheers, or should I say Raaaaaaaaaaaah!
-SueVo

Dude I forgot to brush my teeth!

OK, maybe there's more to it than that, but this study on marijuana and tooth decay still falls in the stupid study category.

A study by a New Zealand scientist in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that marijuana is just as bad for your teeth as cigarettes are.

"Cannabis smoking may be a risk factor for periodontal disease that is independent of the use of tobacco," it concludes.

Not that anybody ever said sucking a bunch of smoke across your teeth each day would be good for them.

I'm surprised the rate of nasty teeth in pot smokers isn't higher - because of the "dude I can't brush, I'm too zoned out" factor.

But now we know.

Here's the full study:

Cannabis Smoking and Periodontal Disease Among Young Adults

Cheers,
-SueVo

Stay fat - save money

Here's an interesting notion from the Public Library of Science. Turns out, being an overweight smoker isn't such a bad thing for society.

While the common wisdom has been that health care costs for the overweight are much more than they are for healthy people - which could further bankrupt our already bankrupt health care system - it turns out that the throngs of jogging, rock climbing, snowboarders pose their own drain on society:

They live too long.

A recent study found that the costs of being unhealthy were the same or less than the costs associated with the longer lifespans of healthy people.

According to the study:

"Although effective obesity prevention leads to a decrease in costs of obesity-related diseases, this decrease is offset by cost increases due to diseases unrelated to obesity in life-years gained. Obesity prevention may be an important and cost-effective way of improving public health, but it is not a cure for increasing health expenditures."

Check out the full study here:

Lifetime Medical Costs of Obesity: Prevention No Cure for Increasing Health Expenditure

So hey, I'm going to go have another doughnut. Woot!

Cheers,
-SueVo

Everybody hates athiests

Nobody loves an athiest. Well, at least according to a University of Minnesota study.

The study found that Americans: "rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, homosexuals and other groups as 'sharing their vision of American society.' Americans are also least willing to let their children marry atheists," according to a story in the Minnesota Daily.

I suppose the purpose of this study is to inform you that if you were thinking of choosing atheism as a career path, you might want to think again. Perhaps you could pretend to be some other religion, or homosexual, so that you get more feel good vibes from the rest of the population.

It's just un-American to not believe in some sort of God, the article continues:

"Americans traditionally have been a religious people and associate faith with being a good citizen. The survey results indicate that this belief hasn't changed.

...

Those surveyed tended to view people who don't believe in a god as the 'ultimate self-interested actor who doesn't care about anyone but themselves,' said Penny Edgell," author of the study.

So much for separation of church and state, eh?

Cheers,
-SueVo

Oh the evils of "Power Rangers"

I pity the researchers in this University of Washington study, who must have had to watch endless hours of horrid children's television programs.

The results? "Arthur" and "Barney" good, "Rugrats" and "Power Rangers" bad.

Good thing somebody is looking into this. Of course, there's also this more novel thing called "going outside to play."

Here's some tidbits from the Associated Press story:

"Every hour per day that kids under 3 watched violent child-oriented entertainment their risk doubled for attention problems five years later, the study found. Even nonviolent kids' shows like 'Rugrats' and 'The Flintstones' carried a still substantial risk for attention problems, though slightly lower.

On the other hand, educational shows, including 'Arthur,' 'Barney' and 'Sesame Street' had no association with future attention problems.

Interestingly, the risks only occurred in children younger than age 3, perhaps because that is a particularly crucial period of brain development.

...

The researchers called a show violent if it involved fighting, hitting people, threats or other violence that were central to the plot or a main character. Shows listed included 'Power Rangers,' 'Lion King' and 'Scooby Doo.' "

Damn that violent Scooby!!!

Cheers,
-SueVo

Look! It's a tree!

OK, this may fall in the not quite so stupid study category, but it's interesting.

Apparently kids would prefer to hang out online or play video games than go outside, hike or camp.

I admit, I resemble that remark, but I do like the occasional hiking or camping trip.

According to a Scripps Howard News Service story:

"National polls indicate that children and teenagers play outdoors less than young people did in the past. Between 1997 and 2003, the proportion of children ages 9 to 12 who spent time hiking, walking, fishing, playing on the beach or gardening declined 50 percent, according to a University of Maryland study.

The lack of outdoor activity is more pronounced in minority and lower-income communities. Latino parents, for example, were twice as likely as white parents to say their child never participated in an outdoor nature activity and three times more likely to say their child did not go to a park, playground or beach this past summer, according to the Public Policy Institute poll.

...

Children between the ages of 8 and 18 spend an average of nearly seven hours a day with electronic media, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The trend starts early. A 2002 study found that 8-year-olds could identify 25 percent more Pokemon characters than wildlife species."

All you really need is to pull out one of those hunting games and it's almost like being there in real life. Almost, but not quite, exactly unlike it, in fact.

Cheers,
-SueVo