Strange but True scientific research

[Gutter Monkey]

Here's a thread for articles on weird scientific research that don't fit into the 'strange but true' thread.

Here's one that tries to determine whether Angelina Jolie is more interesting than a monkey's ass.

[lily]

He he he - I just read the article, and I love the conceptual leap that you made there.

[Gutter Monkey]

The url for the article discussing this is kind've wonky so here's a direct link to the site:
http://femdefence.info/index2.html

Hmmmm. Someone's been getting their ideas from 'Snow Crash', neh?

[unfrufru]

more research on this

Monkeys Pay to See Female Monkey Bottoms
By Robert Roy Britt
LiveScience Senior Writer
</FONT>posted: 28 January 2005
04:27 pm ET

Would you pay to see a monkey's backside? I hope not. Monkeys will, and I guess that's okay, though it sounds awfully close to the sort of thing that lands guys in jail here in the human realm.

A new study found that male monkeys will give up their juice rewards in order to ogle pictures of female monkey's bottoms. The way the experiment was set up, the act is akin to paying for the images, the researchers say.

The rhesus macaque monkeys also splurged on photos of top-dog counterparts, the high-ranking primates. Maybe that's like you or me buying People magazine.

The research, which will be detailed in the March issue of Current Biology, gets more interesting.

The scientists actually had to pay these guys, in the form of extra juice, to get them to look at images of lower-ranking monkeys.

Curiously, the monkeys in the test hadn't had any direct physical contact with the monkeys in the photos, so they didn't have personal experience with who was hot and who was not.

"So, somehow, they are getting this information by observation -- by seeing other individuals interact," said Michael Platt of the Duke University Medical Center.

Next, Platt and his colleagues want to see how people will perform in a similar experiment.

"At the moment, it's only a tantalizing possibility, but we believe that similar processes are at work in these monkeys and in people," Platt said. "After all, the same kinds of social conditions have been important in primate evolution for both nonhuman primates and humans. So, in further experiments, we also want to try to establish in the same way how people attribute value to acquiring visual information about other individuals."

The study, announced Friday, is far from monkey business. It was sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health and the Cure Autism Now Foundation. The goal is to learn more about the social machinery of the brain with an eye toward helping autism patients.

"One of the main problems in people with autism is that they don't find it very motivating to look at other individuals," Platt said. "And even when they do, they can't seem to assess information about that individual's importance, intentions or expressions."

The monkeys provide "an excellent model for how social motivation for looking is processed in normal individuals," Platt said. "And, it's a model that we can use to explore the neurophysiological mechanisms of those motivations in a way we can't do in humans. For example, we can use drugs that affect specific neural processes to explore whether we can mimic some of the deficits found in autism in these animals."

[Mythor]

I'm the highest ranking monkey round here, so who wants to pay to see my butt?


How do people even come up with the idea to do that kind of research? Were they bored of looking for a cure to cancer and needed a break?

[unfrufru]

so, i technically CAN blame my mother for everything *g*

A mother's anxiety during pregnancy may predispose her babies to depression in later life, according to new research, which has found such children retain elevated stress hormones for as long as 10 years after birth.

Seventy-four British children, whose health was followed by researchers since before they were born, had consistently higher levels of the hormone cortisol in their saliva if their mothers had reported feeling anxious, particularly late in pregnancy.

This was the first time the link had been established in humans, said the scientists who analysed the data, led by Thomas O'Connor of the University of Rochester Medical Centre in New York.

The research was consistent with studies of animals that showed maternal stress led to altered psychological development in the offspring, Professor O'Connor said. Overproduction of cortisol had already been implicated in "certain psychiatric disturbances, notably depression and anxiety", he wrote in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

Previous research had shown that children born to anxious mothers were more likely to have psychological problems, but this was the first time physical differences had been identified.

The director of the NSW Institute of Psychiatry, Louise Newman, said the study was significant "because it shows the foetus is very sensitive to cortisol … It's an indication that the [ability to] regulate stress is less effective."

Dr Newman said high cortisol levels in the foetus or during early childhood adversely affected the development of the hippocampus, a region of the brain associated with memory and the regulation of emotion.

The findings "should alert us to the need for much more early intervention programs", Dr Newman said, in pregnant women at risk of severe stress and in very young children.

The associate professor of midwifery at the University of Technology, Sydney, Sally Tracy, said the findings emphasised the need to provide support for women throughout pregnancy and the early years of motherhood.

Women were processed in antenatal clinics, "as if they were coming through a cattle yard", she said.

[Edward]

Apparently monkeys like to gamble. So far we've got them hooked on porn and gambling - anyone want to fund my research into whether monkeys like booze and cigars?

[unfrufru]

this one doesn't contain monkeys. unless u shower with one. and anyone else think that the authors name is fake?

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/...804478011.html

The gender divide as seen through the shower curtain
September 28, 2005

A peek into one of life's most private places - the shower - reveals that men and women have different experiences.



It can be a refreshing splash in summer, and a luxurious warm-up in winter, but there is one thing the shower is not, says Debbie Magids, a New York psychologist

"It's not what people talk about," she said.
Why?

"Because the shower is a very private, very vulnerable place. And as a result, we just don't know much about its rituals, psychologically. Yet many of us are there, every day."

So Dr Magids and the bathroom products company Olay oversaw a telephone survey conducted in the United States in July by Roper Public Affairs & Media, in which 1000 adults 18 and older were asked about their shower habits.

The key finding? Women take longer, for one thing, often staying in for 10 minutes. Many women find this to be a nurturing place of escape.

"Taking a shower is a legitimate excuse for women to be alone, to check out and not be held accountable," Dr Magids said. And yet, women cannot seem to escape completely. Even while under the relaxing spray, women said they often thought about their fitness flaws and chores they had to do.

Men are more businesslike. They get wet, get clean, get out, get dry, and get dressed. What do men think about in there? "Sex and work," Dr Magids said. "Men shower when they need to and stay only as long as necessary."
One last gender difference in the shower: Dr Magids found that more women face away from the nozzle, while most men face toward it. Why? "I have no idea," she said. "That's just one of life's little mysteries."

Asked which celebrity they would most like to shower with, most men chose Angelina Jolie. Most women chose George Clooney. "Men's fantasy woman is one who looks hot and exudes sexuality," Dr Magids said. Women chose Clooney because he was sexy, funny and protective, she said.

Knight Ridder

[unfrufru]

this doesn;t involve monkey's either but it has panda porn

Perving on pandas

September 28, 2005

Chinese and American scientists will use high technology in an attempt to unveil the darkest secrets of the giant panda's sex life, state media say.



Giant pandas are unusually discreet animals, forcing researchers to resort to global positioning system sensors to find out what is really happening behind the bamboo leaves.

"Giant pandas are inaccessible for long periods of time and traditional observation cannot unravel the ecological mystery of the animals," said Wei Fuwen, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"Tracking them with advanced technologies and observing their sex activities might help us find ways to avoid their extinction."

The Chinese academy has linked up with the Zoological Society of San Diego for the three-year, $US660,000 ($875,000) Peeping Tom project at the Foping Natural Reserve in north-west China's Shaanxi province.

Sadly, the curious scientists may find out that not much is going on even when the pandas believe they are alone and unobserved.

A lack of interest in sex is one reason the animal is endangered, and measures ranging from specially designed Viagra to panda porn movies have done little to change that.

[Renee_Turner]

Maybe the male pandas need to invest in some silk stockings. Or the females should bring beer.

[unfrufru]

i thought no matter what the breed, all a woman has to do is show up.

[Renee_Turner]

True, but beer (provided it's not too great a quantity) could help the unattractive female pandas.

[Renee_Turner]

Being religious will give your kids gonorrhea

[Gutter Monkey]

Originally Posted by shower article

The key finding? Women take longer, for one thing, often staying in for 10 minutes. Many women find this to be a nurturing place of escape.
....
Men are more businesslike. They get wet, get clean, get out, get dry, and get dressed. What do men think about in there? "Sex and work," Dr Magids said. "Men shower when they need to and stay only as long as necessary."
One last gender difference in the shower: Dr Magids found that more women face away from the nozzle, while most men face toward it. Why? "I have no idea," she said. "That's just one of life's little mysteries."

Oh my god ... I shower like a woman!

[Renee_Turner]

Surely men must turn around to rinse shampoo from their hair (on the odd occasion they shampoo it).

I actually can't face my shower, even if I wanted to. The nozzle's too low, it'd bean me in the face.

Question (mostly to the girls): does anyone, when washing off a face cream/wash/scrub just put their face in the spray? I've seen it in movies, but I would never do it myself.