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The thing to remember about freedom is that it is not given, it is taken

-Scott Adams

Back Off, Man. I'm a Scientist.

Women are generally able to tell by looking at a man whether or not he is husband material. So says a team of scientists from the University of California at Santa Barbara and the University of Chicago. Shocking research, or ridiculous?

...an interest in children was linked to long-term partnership potential while women were attracted to men with higher testosterone levels as short-term romantic mates.

(story by Reuters, AP)

The more they perceived the men as liking kids, the more likely they could see having a longer-term relationship.

Isn't modern science grand? The preferences of 29 female college students provided the basis of this stunning conclusion. They had the young women thumb through headshots of male grad students, which were then cross referenced with the testosterone levels of those men, and their reaction to photos of babies. Or, they could have watched Friends.

I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't be so worked up over this. But whenever I see a team of scientists report something like this, I have to wonder a few things. Who funded the research? Who felt this was the best way to spend their research time? And, Have these people no shame? They remind me of something that, as a scientist, I don't like to be associated with.

There is a scene in this movie where Sigourney Weaver says to Bill Murray "You know, you don’t act like a scientist... You're more like a game show host."

I don't have any problem with this research being done. In fact, I don't have an inherent problem with people searching for UFOs, astral projections, mental telepathy, ESP, clairvoyance, spirit photography, telekinetic movement, full trance mediums, the Loch Ness monster or the theory of Atlantis.

I do have a problem with the fact that this is considered appropriate for graduate students, Reuters, and AP, showing up at the top of the Yahoo! Science News. This is what science is good for? No wonder students, parents, administrators and even my fellow science teachers behave as though science education is peripheral to everyday life - "a matter of using math to complicate what should be easy to understand."

It's sometimes an uphill struggle to be taken seriously, imo. I could probably do a study on it, if I wasn't such a stiff scientific type.

Posted by Wulf on May 9, 2006 at 09:32 PM

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I'll tell you the effect! It pisses me off! Keep the five bucks...I've had it.

Posted by: Rammage at May 9, 2006 11:19 PM

So there was a study where 29 women spoke for all women? Why 29? Why not 30? Did one forget to show up? And which one of them were the X group that got the placebo?

Posted by: Boon at May 10, 2006 9:14 AM

Why 29? Well, to keep with the movie quotes, their methods are shoddy, their conclusions are the worst kind of tripe, in short they are poor scientists.

Posted by: Wulf at May 10, 2006 9:18 AM

The thing to remember about freedom is that it is not given, it is taken

-Scott Adams

Back Off, Man. I'm a Scientist.

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