Smoking Will Cause Genetic Damage Within Minutes

When you inhale cigarette smoke into your body, it almost immediately causes genetic damage that could lead to cancer.

In the first study of how smoking effects DNA, scientists tracked the pollutant phenathrene, which is found in cigarettes, in the bloodstream of 12 smokers. They found that just 15 to 30 minutes after these volunteers took a puff, the phenathrene had morphed into a toxic substance that “trashes DNA, causing mutations that can cause cancer.”

“The results reported here should serve as a stark warning to those who are considering starting to smoke cigarettes,” the study’s lead author concluded.

Yes, they should. But this is still all very science-y, so we would encourage smokers to just think about the guy with the hole in his neck who has to talk through that little machine.

Wearing red may be key to life

Wearing the color red almost always leads to positive outcomes.

Previous studies have confirmed the widely held view that a woman in red is highly attractive to men. Now research published in this month’s Journal of Experimental Psychology has proved the colour works both ways. In an experiment involving women from the United States, China and Germany, females consistently found photos of men wearing red, or having a red frame, to be more attractive than men accentuated by any other colour.

Here’s another reason a fellow should favor red attire: Other studies, involving sports, suggest that referees favor competitors who wear red. There is also evidence, independent of this, that in individual sports, a red uniform makes victory more likely.

Nevertheless, there are still times when wearing red can’t be recommended. When hanging around angry bulls, for example. Or loitering around Goodison Park, or White Hart Lane too.

Heavy drinkers have a longer life expectancy than non-drinkers

Those who abstain from alcohol have a lower life expectancy than both moderate and heavy drinkers.

A new paper in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, which is based on 20-year study of 1,824 adults, has once again confirmed this counterintuitive conclusion. It isn’t entirely surprising that moderate drinkers outlive teetotalers, as some alcohol — in particular, red wine — is good for the heart. However, researchers are still searching for the reason heavy drinkers live longer than those who abstain altogether.

One theory is that alcohol, the ultimate social lubricant, makes it easier for a person to maintain relationships. And stronger personal relationships have been linked to better mental and physical health, which results in a longer life expectancy.

Or it could be that serious drunks are just too stubborn to die. Screw you death, we’re having another beer before we’re going anywhere.

The Chicken Came Before The Egg

Researchers in Britain have been credited with cracking the age-old conundrum about the chicken and the egg. But are they right?

After the publication of the rather dry-sounding scientific paper, “Structural Control of Crystal Nuclei by an Eggshell Protein,” press headlines proclaimed the answer was… the chicken.

However, one of the paper’s lead authors, Colin Freeman, from the University of Sheffield in northern England, told CNN that the result was not as conclusive as it seemed.

“I would argue that the concept of an eggshell came about way before the chicken, it’s dinosaur or even pre-dinosaur thing. That’s something to talk to an evolutionary biologist about probably,” he said.

(Read More)

High Heels Boost Sex Lives

Wearing high heels may directly improve a woman’s sex life by boosting her pelvic muscles, according to a new Italian study.

Dr. Maria Cerruto, an Italian urologist and a fan of the high heel, studied 66 women who held their feet at a 15 degree angle to the ground.

She found their posture was just as good as women in flat shoes and noted signs their pelvic muscles were stronger, which experts say may improve their sex lives.

The health benefits of low-cut dresses and mini-skirts remain unexplained, so far.

You Can’t Resist Paying Attention To Food, Sex or Danger

The job of your old brain is to constantly scan the environment and answer the questions: “Can I eat it? Can I have sex with it? Will it kill me?”

That’s really all the old brain cares about, is food sex and danger. When you think about it, this is important. Without food you’ll die, without sex the species won’t continue, and if you are killed the other two questions don’t matter. So animal brains developed early on to care intensely about these three topics. As animals evolved they developed other capacities (emotions, logical thought), but they retained a part of their brain to always be scanning what is going on for these three critical questions.

You just can’t resist noticing food, sex, or danger. It doesn’t matter how hard you try to not notice these 3 things in your surroundings, you will always notice them. It’s the old brain working. You don’t necessarily have to do anything once you notice, for example, you don’t have to eat the chocolate cake when you see it, you don’t have to flirt with the attractive person who walked into the room, and you don’t have to run away from the large scary guy that walked in the room with the good looking woman. But you WILL notice all of those things whether you want to or not.

African-Americans talk on their cell phones more than anyone else

Black Americans rack up twice as many cell phone minutes as their white counterparts.

An analysis of cell phone bills by the Nielsen Co. found that the average African-American uses 1,331 talk minutes a month. The average white person, on the other hand, only goes through 647. The Caucasians aren’t making up this difference through texting either, as they text an average of 566 messages a month, to blacks’ 780.

African-Americans are slightly more likely than whites to have a cell phone, but not a land line. However, that doesn’t account for most of the discrepancies in mobile phone usage. Whites also trail Hispanics (who chat for 826 minutes a month) and Asian and Pacific Islanders (692 minutes) in time spent talking on their cell.

One way to interpret these results is that white people are sort of anti-social. Another is that white people might have secretly developed the ability to communicate with one another through mental telepathy. Our opinion? It’s both. That’s right, both. Think about it.

Some People Are Genetically Predisposed to Have More One-Night Stands

People with a certain gene variant are more likely to have one-night stands and sex without commitment.

Researchers from Binghamton University sampled the DNA of 181 young adults and also quizzed them on their sexual behavior. Those who had a particular variant of the gene DRD4 — which regulates the body’s reaction to the production of dopamine — were more likely to pursue one-night stands.

Reason being, people who have this variant get more of a dopamine rush from high-risk, high-reward behavior, such as one-night stands. They are also be more likely to gamble compulsively and consume drugs and alcohol to excess.

So, ladies, when that sweet-talking cad never calls you again, you really are missing out on a world of excitement…

Your Personality Affects The Way You Smell

Getting to know someone usually requires at least a little conversation. But a new study suggests you can get a hint of an individual’s personality through his or her scent alone.

Participants in the study assessed, with some degree of accuracy, how outgoing, anxious or dominant people were after only taking a whiff of their clothes. The study is the first to test whether personality traits can be discerned through body odor.

While the match-up between responses by the judges and the judged were not perfect, they do suggest that, when forming a first impression, we take into account a person’s smell, as well as visual and audible cues to their personality traits, the researchers said.

We not only express ourselves through our looks, “we also express ourselves with how we smell,” said study researcher Agnieszka Sorokowska, a doctoral candidate at the University of Wroclaw, in Poland.

(Read More)

Humans are Naturally Addicted to the Internet

Humans may be powerless to resist surfing the Internet because the brain releases addictive chemicals into the body whenever it processes new information.

A study in California tested volunteers looking at different photographs, and noted that more brain activity occurred when they were shown difficult, mysterious or complex pictures.

That activity represents the brain-releasing addictive chemicals (“opioids”) that make us feel good and get us hooked on new “hits” of information.

The researchers in the study say the same brain activity occurs when people use the Internet. That’s why we can’t stop clicking on pictures of Irish hotties when we should be working.

Luckily, if this research is anything to go by, there’s nothing you can do about it. Our advice? Give in. Abandon yourselves to us. We’ll take good care of you.