Rural America Surprisingly Prosperous, Study Finds

(Click Image to Enlarge)
Much of rural America is prosperous, says a study that used specific criteria to evaluate community success. To qualify as prosperous, U.S. counties had to have lower poverty levels, unemployment rates, high school drop outs and housing problems than the nation as a whole. Here, a map showing the prosperity of U.S. counties. Counties that do better than the nation on all four criteria are colored red. Those that do better on three criteria are red-orange, two criteria are orange, one criteria is yellow and none is white. Credit: Andrew Isserman, Edward Feser, Drake Warren, University of Illinois.

From Live Science:

For many people "rural" is synonymous with low incomes, limited economic opportunity, and poor schools. However, a recent study found that much of rural America is actually prosperous, particularly in the Midwest and Plains.

Researchers just had to look at things differently to see the prosperity.

The study — announced today and based on date from the year 2000 — analyzed unemployment rates, poverty rates, high school drop-out rates, and housing conditions to identify prospering communities. The result: One in five rural counties in the United States is prosperous, doing better than the nation as a whole on all these measures.

Read more ....

Tall People Enjoy Better Wealth And Health

Credit: iStockphoto

From Cosmos:

SYDNEY: Both your health and financial success may be linked to your height, says a new report, which even found a link with the risk of developing cancer.

Brian McEvoy, a population geneticist at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, and co-worker Peter Visscher, reviewed over 70 research studies related to height, and found a general trend which confirms that your stature can affect both health and wealth.

Read more ....

One In Five New Brides Puts On A Stone And A Half In Weight After Just A Year Of Marriage

Photo: Comfort zone: One in five new brides admits to over-eating after the wedding

From The Daily Mail:

Every bride wants to look their best on the big day - but it seems after saying 'I do' many women lost the motivation to stay slim.

Results of a survey published today reveal marriage is no good for the wasitline, with one in five piling on one-and-a-half stone in the first year.

A further 22 per cent of married women questioned said they no longer felt the need to impress their loved ones.

And it seems the weight gain puts added strain on the relationship as well - with 21 per cent of couples rowing over the extra pounds.

Read more ....

The Loneliness Of Three Degrees Of Separation

From New Scientist:

John Cacappio of the University of Chicago and his colleagues reckon that loneliness can spread through society like an infection.

Their study, published in this month's issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, draws on a large group of people living in a town in Massachusetts that had already been assigned as part of a heart health study.

This group of around 5,000 were given questionnaires to assess their loneliness every four years or so, enabling the researcher to track any "spread" in this gloomy emotion.

Read more ....

For Football Fans, Almost Losing Is Ideal

From Live Science:

The most exciting football games are those your team almost loses. No big news there. But a new study looked into the complex emotions of being a fan and reached some interesting conclusions.

Researchers studied fans of two college football teams as they watched the teams' annual rivalry game on television. Fans of the winning team who, at some point during the game, were almost certain their team would lose, ended up thinking the game was the most thrilling and suspenseful.

Read more ....

Boomerangers: Young Adults Moving Back Home

From Live Science:

Some young adults are taking refuge from the dim economy by heading back to their nest, a new report suggests.

A recent survey by the Pew Research Center, announced today, found 13 percent of parents with grown children say an adult son or daughter has moved back home over the past year for various reasons, including the recession.

The so-called boomerangers are mostly individuals ages 18 to 34, the survey found.

Read more ....

Why Kids Ask Why

From Live Science:

A child's never-ending "why's" aren't meant to exasperate parents, scientists say. Rather, the kiddy queries are genuine attempts at getting at the truth, and tots respond better to some answers than others.

This new finding, based on a two-part study involving children ages 2 to 5, also suggests they are much more active about their knowledge-gathering than previously thought.

"Even from really early on when they start asking these how and why questions, they are asking them in order to get explanations," lead researcher Brandy Frazier of the University of Michigan told Live Science.

Read more ....

High-Fliers Swear A 5am Start Is The Key To Success

Photo: Yawn chorus: Is 5am a productive time to begin the day?

From The Daily Mail:

But how do you do it all, I asked my high-powered friend Fiona, who had just reeled off her latest long list of projects. 'Oh, I get up at 5am,' she said. 'So by breakfast time, I've cleared emails, been through the diary and can hit the ground running.'

That did it. For years, I've heard people proclaim the advantages of early rising. Yoga teachers, life coaches and exercise gurus swear by its benefits for the body.

Over-achievers find it's the best time to get things done because their brains are fresh and ready for action.

Anna Wintour, the editor of American Vogue, famously rises at 5am to fit in an hour's tennis before her 6am blow-dry each day.

Read more ....

Women 'Should Bare 40 Per Cent Of Their Bodies To Attract Men'

Liz Hurley wearing her famous 'safety pin' dress Photo: REX

From The Telegraph:

Women should wear clothes that bare 40 per cent of their flesh to maximise their chances of attracting men, new scientific research indicates.

Striking the right balance between revealing too much and being too conservative in how much skin is on show has long been a dilemma for women when choosing the right outfit for a night out.

However, a study by experts at the University of Leeds has come to the rescue by calculating the exact proportion of the body that should be exposed for optimum allure.

Read more ....

No Surprise: Coed Dorms Fuel Sex and Drinking

From Live Science:

It's no secret to students that coed dorms are more fun than same-sex dorms. But they can also fuel very unhealthy behavior that might otherwise be moderated.

A new study finds university students in coed housing are 2.5 times more likely to binge drink every week. And no surprise, they're also likely to have more sexual partners, the study found. Also, pornography use was higher among students in coed dorms.

Some 90 percent of U.S. college dorms are now coed.

Read more ....

Happiest States Are Wealthy And Tolerant

From Live Science:

Though you might not be able to run away from your problems, moving to another state could be good for the soul. New research suggests U.S. states with wealthier, better educated and more tolerant residents are also happier on average.

The reasoning is that wealthy states can provide infrastructure and so it's easier for residents to get their needs met. In addition, states with a greater proportion of artists and gays would also be places where residents can freely express themselves.

Read more ....

Cleanliness May Foster Morality

From Live Science:

A simple spritz of a fresh-smelling window cleaner made people more fair and generous in a new study.

The researchers figure cleanliness fosters morality.

They conducted fairness tests, with subjects completing tasks in a room that was either unscented or one that was sprayed with a common citrus-scented window cleaner.

Read more ....

There’s No Place Like Home

From Newsweek:

Fewer Americans are relocating than at any time since 1962. That's good news for families, communities ... and even the environment.

On almost any night of the week, Churchill's Restaurant is hopping. The 10-year-old hot spot in Rockville Centre, Long Island, is packed with locals drinking beer and eating burgers, with some customers spilling over onto the street. "We have lots of regulars—people who are recognized when they come in," says co-owner Kevin Culhane. In fact, regulars make up more than 80 percent of the restaurant's customers. "People feel comfortable and safe here," Culhane says. "This is their place."

Read more ....

More Than a Storm Chaser

Texas Tech graduate student Sarah Dillingham checks for the green light on a StickNet deployed for a squall line that passed over Reese Technology Center in February 2009. Credit: BCM, Texas Tech University

From Live Science:

This summer, the Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes EXperiment 2 (VORTEX2) brought 80 scientists and crew members and dozens of research vehicles and platforms to the tornado-prone regions of the United States to conduct the most detailed studies to date of tornadoes. Sarah Dillingham was part of that effort, one of the members of Texas Tech’s Multiple Observations of Boundaries In the Local storm Environment (MOBILE) team, helping deploy StickNet mobile sensors in the paths of dangerous storms. VORTEX2 has wound down for the 2009 season, but will re-emerge in 2010. Dillingham offers her thoughts on her first yield of field research as she responds to the ScienceLives 10 Questions below.

Read more ....

Meeting Pretty Women Makes Men Feel Good

Psychologists found that just a five minute talk with an attractive women raised the levels of testosterone by 14 per cent Photo: GETTY IMAGES

From The Telegraph:

Flirting with an attractive woman really does make men feel good, scientists find, as they discover it causes a surge in health-giving hormones.

Researchers found that just being in the presence of a pretty member of the opposite sex causes a temporary boost in levels of testosterone and cortisol – both hormones associated with alertness and wellbeing.

However hanging around with other men has the opposite affect – reducing the levels of both substances in the body.

Read more ....

Why The Mafia Study Gangster Movies

From The Guardian:

Life imitates art as mob members avidly watch The Godfather to find out how to do their jobs.

Bada-bing. For some people, The Godfather is no mere movie but a manual – a guide to living the gangster's life. They lap up all that stuff about going to the mattresses and sleeping with the fishes. The famous scene in which a mafia refusenik wakes up next to a horse's head may be macabre make-believe, but in some quarters it's treated like a tutorial.

Read more ....

Popular Kids Grow Into Healthier Adults

A study over 50 years has revealed that popular school children are less likely to suffer conditions such as heart disease and diabetes than their unpopular counterparts. Credit: iStockphoto

From Cosmos:

PARIS: Children who are the most popular and powerful at school also enjoy better health in adult life compared to counterparts at the bottom end of the pecking order, say Swedish scientists.

The long-term study covers 14,000 children born in 1953, who were questioned in 1966 when they were 12 or 13 years old and whose health was tracked up to 2003.

The children's place in the social hierarchy was determined by asking them who they most preferred to work with at school.

To assess their health in later life, the study delved into a national databank for hospital admissions.

Read more ....

Are You Paid A Pretty Penny? Good Looks Really DO Boost Wages, Researchers Say

Photos: Plainness penalty: Beautiful people, like Birmingham City's MD Karren Brady (left) are paid more than less attractive colleagues, like Ugly Betty (right)

From The Daily Mail:

It is a blow for the Ugly Bettys and Plain Janes - research shows that good looks lead to better pay.

A study of 4,000 young men and women found that beauty boosted pay cheques more than intelligence.

Those judged to be the easiest on the eye earned up to 10 per cent more than their less attractive friends and colleagues.

Read more ....

The Truth About Lying

From Live Science:

While American folklore tells us that George Washington never told a lie, the topic of lying on Capitol Hill, at work, or at home is big news.

For instance, President Barak Obama is charged with telling lies. A popular TV show, Lie to Me, conducts a poll that shows the average person lies 42 times a week. And the concept for a new movie, The Invention of Lying, is that no one is able to tell a lie.

Read more ....

We Trust People More If They Resemble Us

There are people we trust instinctively and those we do not, says the research. More often than not, this decision is based on physical appearance. Credit: iStockphoto

From Cosmos:

GUILDFORD, U.K.: A new study has found that subconsciously we are more likely to trust people with similar facial features to our own, but less likely to be physically attracted to them.

There are people we trust instinctively and those we do not, says the research. More often than not, this decision is based on physical appearance.

Using computer graphics, a team led by Lisa DeBruine from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, manipulated faces so they looked more or less similar to participants in their study. Effectively, the faces either resembled siblings or not, said DeBruine.

Read more ....