Sexual harassment and female gregariousness in the South American sea lion, Otaria flavescens.

“Most colonial pinnipeds [fin-footed animals] form extreme clusters of breeding females that cannot be entirely explained by the distribution of sites for reproduction. Avoidance of male harassment has been postulated as an important determinant of reproductive aggregation in this group of mammals. (more…)

A spiderless arachnophobia therapy: comparison between placebo and treatment groups and six-month follow-up study.

“We describe a new arachnophobia therapy that is specially suited for those individuals with severe arachnophobia who are reluctant to undergo direct or even virtual exposure treatments. In this therapy, patients attend a computer presentation of images that, while not being spiders, have a subset of the characteristics of spiders. The Atomium of Brussels is an example of such an image. (more…)

“Introduction: This study investigated, from a gender perspective, perceptions concerning the word “hymen” among students in a Swedish senior high school. Methods: Students answered an open-ended question: What do you think about when you hear the word hymen? The answers were analyzed by using content analysis. (more…)

Just pour and peel! Also slices and dices.

Put away that Swiffer—when you’ve got a real mess to clean up, turn to this blue goo.

Japanese officials looking to clean up radioactive contamination are applying a product called DeconGel to the problem. The usual method is distressingly Stone Age: soap and water applied by human beings. As you can imagine, there are a number of problems with this, like what to do with all that radioactive water, which has a tendency to leak all over the place, and what to do about radiation exposure of said human beings.

(more…)

Portion size of food affects energy intake in normal-weight and overweight men and women.

“BACKGROUND:
Large portions of food may contribute to excess energy intake and greater obesity. However, data on the effects of portion size on food intake in adults are limited.
(more…)

“In a sample of 18 European nations, suicide rates were positively associated with the proportion of low notes in the national anthems and, albeit less strongly, with students’ ratings of how gloomy and how sad the anthems sounded, supporting a hypothesis proposed by Rihmer.”
(more…)

Vexing. Also, gross.

The vuvuzela, that ear-splitting horn beloved by soccer fans and despised by everyone else, now has another count against it: it spews aerosolized spit like no other. And you know what travels in aerosolized spit? Germs.

(more…)

“Although research has shown a general trend that people dressed in neat or professional clothes elicit more helping behavior from other people than when dressed in casual or sloppy clothes, no research has examined the effects of wearing a costume on helping behavior. (more…)

Far before the looming pyramids and the learned librarians at Alexandria, Egyptian civilization sprung up from the fertile banks of the Nile. Long predating the Inca empire and the sprawling structures of Macchu Picchu, Andean civilization emerged from a whole bunch of llama poop.

For civilizations to take root, people need to have enough food on hand to put time and energy into activities like waging war, building stuff, and composing epic poetry. In the high and rugged Andes, growing that much maize—the staple crop of ancient South America—isn’t easy. That’s what llama droppings are for, a new study suggests.

(more…)