Men who lift weights get more mates.
Or so conclude UCLA researchers, who say they have produced the first scientifically quantified study of women's perceptions of the importance of muscularity in selecting short- and long-term partners.
"If you're trying to figure out why men - especially young men - spend so much time at the gym, here's your answer," said David Frederick, a UCLA doctoral candidate and the study's lead author. "The stereotype is that men work out to compete with each other, but our research suggests that pumping iron is a way for men to enhance their attractiveness to women."
THE WEIGHTING GAME - Researchers say they have produced the first scientifically quantified study of women's perceptions of the importance of muscularity in selecting partners. CNS Photo.
MEDTRONICA - The National Museum of Health and Medicine Web site at nmhm.washingtondc.museum/index.html has some indisputably interesting exhibits. Some are historical, some are just morbidly fascinating. CNS Photo.
Frederick and colleagues conducted two studies. In the first, they photographed 99 male college students, then asked a panel of independent judges to rate them on a nine-point scale, with one being much less muscular than average and nine being much more muscular than average.
The researchers then queried the men about their sexual histories. Compared to their less-muscular peers, the men with above-average muscularity were twice as likely to have had more than three sex partners in their lives.
In the second study, researchers asked 120 male undergraduates to rate their physiques, then asked them about their sexual histories. The self-identified muscle men were not only more likely to be sexually active, but were also twice as likely to have had brief flings or one-night stands as scrawnier fellows.
MEDTRONICA
National Museum of Health and Medicine
nmhm.washingtondc.museum/index.html
The National Museum of Health and Medicine, on the campus of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, is an indisputably interesting place. Check out the virtual exhibits - some historical, some just morbidly fascinating.
BODY OF KNOWLEDGE
For reasons not fully understood, hair grows faster in the morning than at any other time of day.
GET ME THAT. STAT!
Since 1965, toxoplasmosis, a disease caused by a parasite found in cat feces, has killed more than 39,000 pet owners, according to "Final Exits" by Michael Largo.
NEVER SAY DIET
Tacos have been on the menu of Jack in the Box restaurants since the 1950s. The San Diego-based hamburger chain says they account for roughly 10 percent of sales and estimates customers consume approximately 600 a minute, or 315,360,000 tacos a year.
DOC TALK
Gorked - emergency room slang for being unconscious
PHOBIA OF THE WEEK
Nomatophobia - fear of names
STORIES FOR THE WAITING ROOM
During a cholera epidemic in 1854 in Toronto, it was proposed that milk be used as an alternative to blood for transfusions. The rationale: The milk would turn into white blood cells. Seven patients, according to "Mould's Medical Anecdotes," were given intravenous transfusions of 12 ounces of milk. Five died, but two reportedly got better.
OBSERVATION
Symptoms, then, are in reality nothing but the cry from suffering organs.
- Jean-Martin Charcot
CURTAIN CALLS
Lucy Page Gaston was the face of the U.S. anti-smoking movement in the late 19th century, founding the Chicago Anti-Cigarette League in 1899 and a national version a few years later. Her battle cry: "Ban the coffin nail!"
Gaston never smoked but died in 1926 of throat cancer.
LIVE LONG AND WELL
Living a fit and healthy life today may be the secret to being a sharp octogenarian. In a long-running study on mental decline, researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden assessed the cardiac health of more than 1,000 50-year-olds. Twenty years later, all the tests were repeated, plus the men and women were screened for Alzheimer's. The 4 percent who developed dementia had started with the highest blood pressure, cholesterol and weight.
TREAT TENNIS ELBOW
Bid adieu to tennis elbow. An injection of your own blood platelets into the elbow tendon might be the most effective treatment. A study in the American Journal of Sports Medicine found that when patients with ongoing elbow pain got a shot of their own plasma, their pain diminished by 60 percent compared with just 16 percent for those who got an injection of a local anesthetic. The platelets contain compounds that encourage cell growth needed to repair damaged tissue.
- Compiled by R.J. Ignelzi