Is your new friend a Psychopath?

Because psychopaths can smell fear.

Just kidding. It's far more mundane than that; psychopaths just notice women who are sad, lonely, and downtrodden, and remember details about them more easily so that they can target them later. Kind of like lions picking the slowest and weakest of the herd.

Dalhousie University, which is apparently breaking new ground in the exciting field of psychopath studies, has released a new study. First, they singled out the study participants who were psychopaths. Then, they separated the test subject psychopaths from the ones who were running the study (ZING!). Then they showed them a series of pictures of women.

All of the test subjects were told that some of the women from the pictures were happy, some were sad, some had high-paying jobs, and some had low-paying jobs. In addition to the mini-biographies, the subjects were told the names of the women in the photos.

The psychopaths did a better job recalling the details of the unhappy, poor women, and a worse job remembering details for everyone else. Other test subjects weren't as focused on the sad, lonely, victim demographic, and couldn't recall details about them as well.

It raises an interesting question. Why is this professor so interested in psychopaths?

Teens Are Trying To Kill You

No, not with their go-go lifestyle of loud music, wild drugs, and wilder sex. They want to kill you with their cars. They're so hell bent on driving that they don't bother getting their license first, and end up being some of the most dangerous hazards on the road.

Unlicensed teens drive recklessly, and don't follow traffic laws. Why should they? They're already driving without a license. The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia found that 20% of the 14- to 18-year-old drivers involved in fatal car accidents were driving without a license. Unlicensed drivers are more likely to drive drunk or while on drugs, drive without using a seatbelt, and "driving without a purpose," which sounds crazy dangerous. Damn kids.

Much like those PSAs they run saying that drunk drivers aren't as dangerous to themselves as they are to other people, these unlicensed teen drivers are a real health hazard. There are some comically racist conclusions in the study as well, about urban vs. rural teens and which minorities are most likely to drive without a license, but it's not really worth mentioning.

It's CSI with a Calculator

Looking at dirt might not be a very appealing career option, but there's a certain level of coolness to be found in catching criminals. Even if you catch them by staring at spreadsheets, account balances, and wire transfers. Forensic accounting has now become a large enough field to support four undergraduate programs in the United States.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham is tooting their own horn in a recent press release, but they are one of those 4 schools that offer forensic accounting. (That's right four whole courses of undergraduate training. That kind of intensive study almost guarantees your status as an expert.)

They raise a valid point; people will be more tempted to commit financial crimes as the economy gets worse. There could be an increased demand for forensic accountants to catch these white-collar criminals. There could also be an opportunity for a crooked forensic accountant to make a killing by selling his knowledge to the highest bidder.

What? I'm just sayin'. Yeah, it was a bit of a slow news day, why do you ask?

Why Clean Up a Neighborhood You Hate?

Ohio State University has been asking some questions about how satisfied residents are with their neighborhoods, and came up with some interesting answers. You know those bad parts of town that are run down and grubby looking? Well, they got that way because the residents have bigger concerns.

Short version: Happy residents who were satisfied with their neighborhoods said they were satisfied because of things like public transportation, access to recreational opportunities, distance from family and friends, and appearance. People who were dissatisfied said that they were unhappy because of violence, and feared for their safety. The happy residents didn't mention crime, and the unhappy residents didn't complain about housing density.

So, route the police patrols through the unhappy neighborhoods and the bus lines through the happy neighborhoods and it's problem solved, I guess.

Bad Behavior Is in the Genes; Jeans Not Entirely Free From Blame

So it turns out that criminals (that is to say, real criminals, not just bears with attitude problems) seek each other out socially. Yes, we already knew they all hang out together in college, but it looks like it starts even younger.

Florida State University is reporting that they have located a gene that indicates criminal tendencies, and that young men in possession of this gene tend to group with their delinquent (and genetically defective) peers. It seems a little suspect to me. I mean, what next, are they going to determine whether someone is predisposed to criminal behavior by feeling the bumps on their head? Phrenology was dismissed as nonsense a long time ago, do we really need to blame bad behavior on genes?

To its credit, the study also acknowledges factors like environment and upbringing can have an effect on whether or not the adolescent males will in fact be delinquent. The criminal genes might not express themselves as fully, or express themselves more easily, depending on the subject's situation. Of course, if they're seeking out peers who are also likely to commit crime, then we're back to square one.

Bearclaw: Breakfast Pastry, Gang Sign

Black bears are TOTALLY gangsta, according to the journal Human-Wildlife Conflicts. They get pregnant at a younger age, are more likely to die violent deaths, and grow bigger. The weight is because they supplement their diet with garbage (real garbage, not frito-lay products and hostess snack cakes (ZING!)), and the increased weight leads to the earlier pregnancies (don't ask, I don't want to know).

The violent death part is due to vehicle collisions, but the study doesn't state how many of those collisions were during drive-bys.

It also brings up an interesting concept, the "bear sink." Urban areas and their tasty, tasty garbage are drawing in bears from outlying areas. Then the bears get killed. Violently. And eventually, no bears are left in the wilderness. This is why we should start dumping our trash in the middle of the woods. Problem solved.

When Addiction Turns Deadly

First, it turns out that Missouri has an impressive program in place for helping problem gamblers help themselves. In 1996, they were the first state to implement an exclusion program, and it currently allows people to ask to have themselves banned from casinos. Expect Las Vegas to implement a similar program sometime between when they can figure out how to make money out of it and never.

Now, researchers have been studying some of these people who are self-reporting themselves as problem gamblers. They found that older problem gamblers are three or four times more likely to request a self-ban because they are worried that they will kill themselves. So, either older problem gamblers are suicidal, or they're drama queens.

Warfare in the New Millennium: E-mailed Rumors of Homosexuality

Cyber-attacks are the new air-dropped propoganda leaflets. Even countries that aren't officially at war have been bombarding each other with Denial-of-Service attacks and virus-laden e-mails. Recently, the conflict in Georgia touched off attacks that used a combination of high-tech viruses and childish taunts.

Apparently, Russian computers sent e-mails designed to look like they were BBC stories announcing that the Georgian president was a homosexual. This was detected by the "Spam Data Mine" of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The chilling part is that at the time the e-mails were sent, the majority of anti-virus software was unable to detect that anything was wrong.

I guess that you should be careful about following links to weird stories that make improbable claims, like global warming correcting itself.

Hmm. College, or That Life-Saving Operation?

Health Insurance costs have more than doubled in the past 10 years. And it's not a trend that's going to be reversing any time soon. With the cost of treatment so expensive, is it any wonder that more people are trying to medicate and/or treat themselves at home?

It's just too depressing to think about.

I'm Mildly Confused

According to UVA, alcohol-related consequences are on the decline among college students.

It's interesting to see what they have defined as "alochol-related consequences." There were 10, ranging from police confrontations to unprotected sex, with some less-severe issues like missing class.

The thing is, I'm not sure if this is local to UVA, or nationwide. After all, it seems like some researchers are saying that crime is up among college students.

Educated Criminals

While we're talking about the unruly, it appears as though college men are just a bunch of thugs.

According to Bowling Green State University's research, male college students spend more time drinking, engage in more substance abuse, and commit more property crimes (vandalism, theft, etc.) than their peers who are not in college.

Is this a surprise to anyone? I bet that the worst of them probably end up having more sex, too.

Better Living through Chemistry

Why deal with unruly children when you can just drug them? Especially if they're not your kids in the first place. At least, that's what Texas appears to be thinking.

A scary study of Texas children with Medicaid coverage shows that prescription medications are being used on children without completing tests to establish their safety and effectiveness.

Three times as many children in foster care were on psychotropic medication to alter their behavior or emotions than comparable children. I'm sure that this just gets aggravated when they have to go to emergency rooms.

So I guess that the official stance of the Texas state government is just to drug these kids into complacency until they do something that warrants the death penalty.

You're a Bad Man, Seargeant Bill

Did you hear about the fake FBI agent who entered a bunch of homes without warrants? The New York Times has the story about how this guy convinced the police that he was from the government, and didn't need search warrants or any other legal niceties to uphold the law. It played out like a modern-day "Catch Me If You Can" scenario.

I don't know which is creepier, that this civilian actually arrested people, or that real criminals might get to walk on a technicality.