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January 18 2012
Go Ahead and Gossip—Science Says It’s the Right Thing to Do
He did what? Innnnteresting…
Thorough scientific study has revealed that lots of supposed vices can have surprising upsides: alcohol, sex, caffeine. Thanks to UC Berkeley researchers, we can now add another so-bad-but-oh-so-good habit to the list: Gossip, their new study suggests, can be a selfless act of public service.
Surreptitiously passing along the news that someone has behaved badly—what’s technically called “prosocial gossip”—can relieve stress, as well as warn others to regard the rule-breaker with a wary eye, the researchers say. (The study didn’t look directly at other forms of gossip—rumormongering, telling lies, anything said to a confessional cam on reality TV—so make of that what you will.)
In one experiment, the scientists found that people’s heart rates spiked when they saw one of two people playing a game cheating, but calmed again when they had the chance to jot a note, middle school-style, to the next competitor about what they’d seen. “Spreading information about the person whom they had seen behave badly tended to make people feel better, quieting the frustration that drove their gossip,” one of the researchers said in a statement—scientific confirmation of that scratching-a-lingering-itch feeling of relief we get from clucking our tongues ...
August 19 2010
Just Like Lady Gaga, Paper Wasps Don’t Want No Paper Gangsters
What do you get if you fake your fighting skills, little wasp? A walloping, that’s what. A recent study says that Polistes dominulus, commonly known as paper wasps, punish individuals who misrepresent their combat abilities. Yes, you could call those fakers paper gangsters.
Paper wasps show their strength all over their faces, New Scientist reports: Fragmented facial markings are a warning that the fight won’t be easy. Elizabeth Tibbetts and Amanda Izzo wanted to determine why wasps don’t cheat–why weaklings don’t also opt for a don’t-mess-with-me facial pattern.
They altered submissive wasps’ faces to appear more dominant and then sent them into the ring for a confrontation. Though at first the truly stronger wasp submitted, it later attacked with more vigor. The faker got a harsher smackdown than did weak wasps that showed their true colors.
In a different twist, the researchers made some weak wasps strong by giving them hormones, but left the wasps’ faces unaltered. The opponent wasps refused to yield, and continued to fight the enhanced weak-faces. Wasps with no facial alterations, the scientists say, entered into stable relationships, perhaps hinting at why it doesn’t pay to pretend.
Related content:
Discoblog: Meet the Suicidal, Child-Soldier, Sexless Cloned Wasps
Discoblog: Caterpillars Beware: Parasitic Wasps Come in a Wide Variety
Discoblog: This Fish Has Seen the Enemy, and It Is Him
Discoblog: Each Shot of Mezcal Contains a Little Bit of DNA From the “Worm”
Image: wikimedia
June 03 2010
The Tell-Tale Underwear: Genetics Co. Finds Out Who’s Been Cheating
Worried your man is cheating? Don’t rely on hunches, send his undies to the lab. Some suspicious people are paying upwards of $500 to air their dirty laundry, and a DNA-testing company is happily testing suspected spouses’ condoms, sheets, and tighty whities for genetic signs of infidelity.
Chromosomal Laboratories Inc., the same company that has offered paternal-testing giveaways on Father’s Day, is now in the unmentionables business. The company offers a smorgasbord of tests starting with a UV-light sweep and going as far as a microscopic search for sperm heads.
On the version of the company’s website designed for suspicious men, the biological sleuths describe a test for Prostate Specific Antigen and boast: “The technique is extremely powerful because it can confirm the presence of semen even in samples from sterile or vasectomized men.”
An order sheet (pdf), which “should not come in contact with any of the samples,” allows concerned lovers to mark the quantity of saliva, sperm, or DNA tests that the lab should perform. A similar site exists for women testing their husbands’ or boyfriends’ garments since the company can also screen for vaginal fluid, and a simple cheek swab can rule out the concerned partner’s own DNA that might contaminate the “sample.”
The Phoenix New Times broke the story, interviewing Melissa Beddow, an analyst for the company:
Beddow says stealing someone’s underwear and testing it for DNA isn’t an invasion of privacy because the tests aren’t used in court–although, in some cases, like divorce proceedings, Chromosomal Laboratory’s results can be admitted into evidence.
Related content:
Discoblog: Scientists Examine Underwear Astronaut Wore for a Month
Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: Impact of wet underwear on thermoregulatory responses and thermal comfort in the cold.
Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: Study proves cheating good for marriage.
DISCOVER: Einstein’s Theory of Fidelity
DISCOVER: The Mating Game’s Biggest Cheaters (photo gallery)
Image: flickr / Egan Snow
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