The Homely Scientist

A recent study looked at the whys of people wanting to have sex.  Now, yes, there are some of the obvious ones there, but there are some interesting ones like getting closer to God, and my favourite (for the shock value only) wanting to give someone and STD:

“Why people have sex is extremely important, but rarely studied. Surprisingly, many scientists assume the answer is obvious, but people have different reasons for having sex, some of which are rather complex,” Buss said in a statement.

The top reason both men and women gave was that “I was attracted to the person,” but some motivations were ranked very differently by the two sexes. The study authors found an “astonishing” 123 of the 237 motivations were cited more frequently by one sex or the other. Topping the list was “The person wore revealing clothes,” which as social stereotypes might lead one to expect was cited by men more often than women. Source: Why have sex with thee? Let me count the ways | Tech news blog - CNET News.com

Does this show some kind of evolutionary change or just a reflection that in human society right now procreation doesn’t have to be at the top of the list anymore?  I think these results strengthen the arguments  for sexual attraction and sexual fulfillment being intertwined.  Okay that and people are varied, quirky and strange beings.

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Ever wonder how your brain works?  Maybe how sometimes it doesn’t work?  So do the folks at Lifehack:

I think the brain is most interesting when it doesn’t work the way you expect it should. psychology often confirms our intuitions about how our minds work, but it offers quite a few surprises as well. Although some psychology buff’s will have heard a few of these before, here’s a list of quirks in your brain you probably didn’t realize you had: Source: Nine Brain Quirks You Didn’t Realize You Had - lifehack.org

Visit the page for the details on these nine quirks:

1) Your short-term memory has a max capacity of seven.

2) Chartreuse is the most visible color.

3) Your subconscious is smarter than you are.

4) You have two nervous systems.

5) Your brain is awful at probability.

6) Your memory isn’t great either.

7) You can perceive depth with one eye.

8 ) Long-term memory shuts down during sleep.

9) You have an instant playback feature.

 I’m still wondering about the chartreuse one … since it’s not a colour I run into a lot, how can I know it’s most visible.  And if it’s most visible…why isn’t there more of it?

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Yawning is an interesting activity.  Just thinking about it has made me yawn twice as I’ve written about it.  Seeing other people, and sometimes other mammals, yawn will trigger it.  So what’s the point?  Turns out it is to wake you up and trigger your brain into action:

Yawning is not something we usually aim to provoke among our readers, but have a yawn now. Does your brain feel cooler? Do you feel more attentive? According to psychologists Andrew Gallup and Gordon Gallup of the State University of New York at Albany, that is why we yawn: to boost blood flow and chill the brain.

Not only that, brain-cooling explains why you can “catch” a yawn, says Gordon Gallup. “We think contagious yawning is triggered by empathic mechanisms which function to maintain group vigilance.” In other words, yawn-catching evolved to help raise the attentiveness of the whole group. Source: Yawning may boost brain’s alertness - being-human - 02 July 2007 - New Scientist

I always thought it was a just an oxygen boost for your brain.  I was close, but not quite.  I like the group yawn theory.  Imagine being a hunter-gatherer in the bush hunting.  One person yawns triggering others as a signal to sharpen up.  Handy, very handy.  So the hunter who napped might have become lunch for something or left behind.

Hat tip: Boing Boing

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