“Research has shown that with some nonhuman primates, red is associated with greater sexual attractiveness of females, and recent studies found that a woman with red clothes increases attraction behavior in men. However, the mechanism that explains such behavior was not studied. In this experiment, we hypothesized that men overestimated women’s sexual intent when wearing red clothing. Read the rest of this entry »

Kids speak: preferred parental behavior at youth sport events.

“News reports and scholarly research have indicated increasing concern that parent-spectator behavior at youth sport events may be problematic. Multiple strategies have been used to influence spectator behavior in youth sport contexts (e.g., “Silent Sundays”). However it is unlikely that interventions aimed at changing parent-spectator behaviors have adequately considered young athletes’ perspectives, because little is known about how children want parents to behave during youth sport events. Read the rest of this entry »

The effects of two types of clothing on seasonal heat tolerance.

“The aim of this study was to look at changes in seasonal heat tolerance due to acclimatization produced by different types of clothing. A group of 12 female adults served as subjects in the study which lasted for 3 months from April to June during which the ambient temperature gradually rose. Of the group 6 of them (skirt group) wore knee-length skirts daily, and the others (trouser group) were dressed in full trousers during this acclimatization period. The heat tolerance before and after the acclimatization period was compared between the two groups under conditions in which relative humidity was 30% and ambient temperature was raised to 37 degrees C. Rectal temperature, mean skin temperature and the loss of body mass caused by sweating were measured in the two groups. Read the rest of this entry »

Rotating bouncing disks, tossing pizza dough, and the behavior of ultrasonic motors.

“Pizza tossing and certain forms of standing-wave ultrasonic motors (SWUMs) share a similar process for converting reciprocating input into continuous rotary motion. We show that the key features of this motion conversion process such as collision, separation and friction coupling are captured by the dynamics of a disk bouncing on a vibrating platform. Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t mess with this.

Folks, those turtle-shaped sandboxes are not just a consumerist fantasy: Carbonemys cofrinii is an extinct turtle with a 10-inch skull and, more impressively, a shell that rounds out to five feet, seven inches in length. That really is big enough to dig around in. That’s also the same height as the grad student who found the 60-million-year-old fossil in a Colombian mine.

The turtle was so big that it probably drove off other turtle competitors and dominated the lake by itself, scientists say. They think that C. cofrinni preyed on mollusks and small reptiles, like the one depicted in this artist’s interpretation. If we’re going to be spending time in the belly of a turtle, though, we’d personally prefer it to be full of sand and toys rather than chewed up food.

[via Wired]

Image via North Carolina State University, credit: Liz Bradford

Customer service as a function of shopper’s attire.

“A field experiment explored whether a female shopper’s appearance would influence the customer service she received. Specifically, a female confederate dressed in formal work clothes (skirt and blouse) or informal gym clothes (tights and t-shirt) entered a series of randomly selected women’s clothing stores in a large mall and proceeded to “shop.” Read the rest of this entry »

“The copulatory vocalizations of female baboons (Papio ursinus) are more complex than those of female gibbons (Hylobates hoolock) or human females. Adult males of all these species begin calling later than the female, but subordinate baboon males do not call. Copulatory vocalizations may serve to mutually stimulate the mating partners or to incite male competition. Read the rest of this entry »

“In our busy lives, almost all of us have to walk with a cup of coffee. While often we spill the drink, this familiar phenomenon has never been explored systematically. Here we report on the results of an experimental study of the conditions under which coffee spills for various walking speeds and initial liquid levels in the cup. Read the rest of this entry »

Forensic approach to an archaeological casework of “vampire” skeletal remains in Venice: odontological and anthropological prospectus.

“During the years 2006–2007, the Archeological Superintendent of Veneto (Italy) promoted a research project on mass graves located on Nuovo Lazzaretto in Venice, where the corpses of plague deaths were buried during the 16th and 17th centuries. The burials were of different stages and are believed to be the remains of plague victims from the numerous outbreaks of pestilence, which occurred between the 15th and 17th centuries. Among the fragmented and commingled human bones, an unusual burial was found. The body was laid supine, with the top half of the thorax intact, arms parallel to the rachis axis, the articulations were anatomically unaltered. Both the skull morphology and the dimensions of the caput omeris suggest the body was a woman. A brick of moderate size was found inside the oral cavity, keeping the mandible wide open. Read the rest of this entry »

“On review of admissions over a 12-month period, we noted a significant number of women presenting with gypsy skirt burns. We describe all six cases to highlight the unique distribution of the wounds and the circumstances in which the accidents occurred. Read the rest of this entry »