News
Alcohol, Sports Fans, Sugar Spikes and Other Surprising and Obvious Studies This Week
In a huge shock to everybody who's never thought to turn on the radio, researchers at Boston University have discovered that musicians like to sing about their adventures with alcohol, and tend to name-drop the biggest, baddest brands.
Jack Daniel's? K$sha's on it. Patrón? Every LMFAO song, ever. According to the study, if you're an "urban" singer (gee, what's that code for?) you're more likely to rap/sing/twerk about tequila, vodka, and champagne. If you're a little bit country, you'll be singing about beer and whiskey.
Responded the Vice President of the Distilled Spirits Council: "This so-called ‘study’ is a shameful waste of taxpayer dollars... If [they have] a bone to pick, it is with artists who are protected by the First Amendment, and he should say so."
At which point, we hope, he went and brushed his teeth with a bottle of Jack.
Obvious: Musicians Like To Name-Drop Grey Goose, Patrón, And Jack Daniels
In a huge shock to everybody who's never thought to turn on the radio, researchers at Boston University have discovered that musicians like to sing about their adventures with alcohol, and tend to name-drop the biggest, baddest brands.
Jack Daniel's? K$sha's on it. Patrón? Every LMFAO song, ever. According to the study, if you're an "urban" singer (gee, what's that code for?) you're more likely to rap/sing/twerk about tequila, vodka, and champagne. If you're a little bit country, you'll be singing about beer and whiskey.
Responded the Vice President of the Distilled Spirits Council: "This so-called ‘study’ is a shameful waste of taxpayer dollars... If [they have] a bone to pick, it is with artists who are protected by the First Amendment, and he should say so."
At which point, we hope, he went and brushed his teeth with a bottle of Jack.
Surprising: Greenland Is About To Actually Get Green
Climate change is coming, guys. And doesn't Greenland know it.
As the country gets warmer, Greenland is steadily becoming greener and greener as its ice melts, prompting calls to change its name to "Greenest-land." One of those is true, and one is not. You decide.
Iceland is also getting less icy, proving that climate change, while terrible, is going to make originally misleading names more accurate.
Obvious: If You Post Loads Of Photos To Facebook, Your Friends Will Hate You
No matter how much you like someone in real life, your feelings are going to sour when they post 27 moody Instagram shots of their mid-afternoon snack. Science says so.
The more photographs you post to Facebook, the more likely your friends are to hate you. Seriously. The study's researchers delicately explained it this way: "This is because people, other than very close friends and relatives, don’t seem to relate well to those who constantly share photos of themselves.”
Next up on your Facebook feed: 18 sunsets, 32 dogs, 3 cronuts, and people who just don't listen to science.
Surprising: Wealth Really Does Change You
Can we use this to explain Miley Cyrus' VMA performance?
Researchers at Berkeley have discovered that a surge in moneyz leads to acute and obvious personality changes. New wealth automatically makes you feel more entitled, which leads to narcissistic behaviors, namely becoming — as the study put it — "self-focused." Which explains Justin Bieber's last two years, and every reality star to ever walk the earth.
Obvious: Alcoholism Can Make You Broke
Full-blown alcoholism, science has decided, is bad. Not only will the disease destroy your relationships, your health, and your quality of life... it'll probably cost you quite a lot, reveals this new study.
You're also more likely to lose a lot of money in a short period of time if you're an alcoholic. Sometimes, the disease can lead to addicts losing all their money. In other news, meth isn't good for your savings account.
Surprising: Teen Drinking Increases Risk Of Breast Cancer
In more bad news for the alcohol community... Drinking during adolescence and early adulthood increases your risk of developing breast cancer by more than a tenth, new research indicates.
Basically, for every drink you consume per day, you increase your risk of developing breast disease lesions, which in turn up your chances of developing breast cancer by 500 percent. This is because breast cancer tissue is sensitive during this period, and thus is more susceptible to disease.
Obvious: Not Everyone Has The Same Temperament
Thought everybody had similar temperament, mood fluctuations, and attitude to life? Yeah...
Some scientists in Illinois conducted an entire study examining why some people have more positive outlooks, while others tended to be more glass-half-empty. The researchers ultimately decided that it's "not the object" that determines one's outlook on a subject, it's your "dispositional attitude."
Surprising: If Your Sports Team Has A Losing Streak, You'll Gain Weight
Make way for the new fad diet: Not Getting Invested In Sports.
It turns out that when your sports team loses, you eat roughly 16 percent more fatty foods than if they win. Multiply that by a losing streak, and that's a hell of a weight gain over just one season. Oh, and after a major sports loss, 911 calls by supporters jump by 10 percent. So, really, when the game ends, it's all just kicking off for you...
Obvious: A Small Country's Worth Of Sugar Makes Kids Angry
Research has officially revealed a worrying link between soda and kids getting aggressive. Kids who were fed four or more (or more?! The mind boggles) cans of sugar-filled soda drinks tended to exhibit more aggression, running around fighting other kids and knocking over their property. This is probably because there was more sugar than blood in their bloodstream, but science didn't add that part. Also, they might be angry that their parents are idiots.
Surprising: Too Much Religion Can Harm Economy
A controversial new research paper out of England has suggested that the more religious people are, the less inclined they are to try and make money — which, in turn, damages the economy. Data from 11 countries was used as evidence.
Think about it: religions often teach that "money is the root of all evil," and encourage religious people to look inwards for personal satisfaction — a.k.a., not towards all of that money-grabbing materialism. All well and good for society, since the religious tend to report higher happiness levels, but bad for those countries' economies, which kind of need everyone not to think that money is evil.
