Fact O' The Day

[Krandall]

"DNA may one day be used to provide an accurate facial reconstruction."


Police may someday be able to reconstruct an image of a suspect's face based purely on DNA, according to researchers at Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands. Scientists examined DNA from 10,000 Europeans, trying to correlate genetics with broad characteristics in photos and in MRI scans of their heads. The genes they identified did have noticeable effects in the participants' faces, though the effects were very small (the gene TP63 does seem to influence eye width, for example, but only to the tune of about 9 millimeters).

[Krandall]

"Everyone with blue eyes has one common ancestor."


According to researchers at the University of Copenhagen's Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, blue eyes are a genetic mutation that first appeared between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago, before which all humans had brown eyes. A mutation in the OCA2 gene, which influences melanin production, limited one human being's ability to produce melanin (only in the iris; blue eyes are essentially albinism that is limited to the eyes). The researchers studied 800 blue-eyed people, and only one person -- whose eye color was blue with one brown spot -- didn't share the same haplotype (a recurring bit of common genetic code). Except for such outliers, all blue-eyed individuals can be linked to the same ancestor.



So does this mean... blue eyed people shouldn't marry blue eyed people

[Peelz]

"Everyone with blue eyes has one common ancestor."


According to researchers at the University of Copenhagen's Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, blue eyes are a genetic mutation that first appeared between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago, before which all humans had brown eyes. A mutation in the OCA2 gene, which influences melanin production, limited one human being's ability to produce melanin (only in the iris; blue eyes are essentially albinism that is limited to the eyes). The researchers studied 800 blue-eyed people, and only one person -- whose eye color was blue with one brown spot -- didn't share the same haplotype (a recurring bit of common genetic code). Except for such outliers, all blue-eyed individuals can be linked to the same ancestor.



So does this mean... blue eyed people shouldn't marry blue eyed people

unless you like birth defects....


kinda spoils your whole "aryan" theing huh? 

[Krandall]

Hey.

I don't ask questions. I just eff b*tches.

[Krandall]

"People who have second thoughts about getting married are actually more likely to have a failed marriage."


Researchers at UCLA studied 232 couples and found that both men and women who feel uncertain about an upcoming wedding are both more likely to wind up divorced. Men were more likely to report feeling these doubts than women (47% to 38%). Of the men who'd had second thoughts, 14% were divorced within 4 years (compared to 9% of those who hadn't had second thoughts). For women, 19% of the doubters ended up divorced (compared to 8% of the non-doubters). Expressed another way, in marriages where neither partner had experienced doubts, only 6% divorced within four years. In marriages where both partners had had doubts, that number became 20%.

[Peelz]

"People who have second thoughts about getting married are actually more likely to have a failed marriage."


Researchers at UCLA studied 232 couples and found that both men and women who feel uncertain about an upcoming wedding are both more likely to wind up divorced. Men were more likely to report feeling these doubts than women (47% to 38%). Of the men who'd had second thoughts, 14% were divorced within 4 years (compared to 9% of those who hadn't had second thoughts). For women, 19% of the doubters ended up divorced (compared to 8% of the non-doubters). Expressed another way, in marriages where neither partner had experienced doubts, only 6% divorced within four years. In marriages where both partners had had doubts, that number became 20%.

good stat there. just makes sense...... have doubts, dont do it

[Krandall]

Adolph Hitler played chess daily. He always played the white pieces, and insisted on being allowed to replace one of his bishops with a second queen.

[Peelz]

Adolph Hitler played chess daily. He always played the white pieces, and insisted on being allowed to replace one of his bishops with a second queen.

kinda tells ya what kinda guy he is.... dontcha think?

is there any seriousness to this?

[Colorado700R]

sounds familiar..there's always three queen's on the RS boards too!

(Peels, Randy, and Hefe)

"thee three queens of questionable sexual oreintaion"

[Peelz]

oh, there's no questioning this orientation!

[Krandall]

^

[Krandall]

"Gonorrhea rates among young men go down when taxes on beer go up. "


According to a paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research first published in Advances in Health Economics and Health Services Research, among young men between ages 15-19 and 20-24, higher taxes on beer (the alcoholic beverage of choice for those age groups) correspond with lower gonorrhea incidence rates.

[Krandall]

"Self-compassion is the most important element in getting over a breakup."


Self-compassion is similar to self-esteem, but more measured -- it involves realistic self-perceptions instead of ego-inflated ones, and forgiveness instead of criticism over personal shortcomings. A study in Psychological Science indicated that out of all the personality traits (including optimism, aptitude for relationships, self-esteem and resistance to depression), self-compassion is the single most helpful in rebounding from an emotionally difficult period such as a divorce. The study followed recently divorced participants (with a mean age of 40) and found that those high in self-compassion both recovered sooner from their divorces and felt better than their peers did a few months down the line.

[Krandall]

"A woman's history of orgasm is observable in her walk."


A study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine asked female subjects to take a questionnaire on sexual behavior. The participants were then filmed walking in public spaces. Two professors of sexology, unaware of the women's questionnaire answers, were able to guess with 80% accuracy whether a woman experienced vaginal orgasm just by examining her walk. Researchers theorized that either a woman's physiological characteristics influence both her stride and her sexual behavior, or a vaginally orgasmic woman is also more likely to feel confident and liberated in general.

[Krandall]

"In 2007 dollars, George Washington's presidential salary is higher than that of George W. Bush."

Technically, the U.S. president is the highest-paid employee in the government. Expense accounts aside, right now he earns a $400,000 annual salary (a figure established in 2001, which was a substantial increase from $200,000).

George Washington's initial salary was $25,000, which, in today's money, comes to about $566,000. Historically, the $75,000 salary approved in 1909 is the highest in 2007 dollars, being about the equivalent of $1,714,000 today.