Religious Kids Have More Incentive To Lie

At least, that's the conclusion that I've drawn from a study conducted by Brigham Young University sociologists. I think my findings are as valid as theirs, even if they were looking at a link between religion and marijuana use.

The study measured "religiosity" in teenagers, defined as how freqently they attended church and how important religion was to them. The researchers examined data sets from a National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health and a state-wide survey of Utah schools. They compared answers to conclude that teens with more "religiosity" were half as likely to use marijuana, drink alcohol, or smoke.

Interestingly enough, this religiosity didn't affect the likelihood of their using cocaine or heroin.

Are we really going to take these teenagers at their word? First, it's completely possible that they're upwardly exaggerating the number of times that they go to church. I do it all the time. Second, wouldn't the kids who ARE more religious want to avoid being judged by their church and their peers for using drugs? Oh, sure, their religion might consider lying to be a sin, but if they're already sinning by using drugs, why wouldn't they lie about it?

I'm not saying that participating in a religious community has no benefits at all, I just want to be cautious about not overestimating them. After all, good parenting is important, too.

Has your appendix burst: Y/N (Check One)

Sorry for the title, but the news from Johns Hopkins Children's Center has me thinking of those fifth-grade "do you like me" questions you'd pass to each other as notes. It's actually a serious issue, since it involves sick kids, which is kind of sad, and also vomiting and diarrhea, which is difficult to deal with even in non-life-threatening circumstances.

It's tough to tell the stomach flu from appendicitis--past research shows that half o f appendicitis cases are misdiagnosed when first evaluated by a doctor. That's why the medical center developed a checklist that doctors can run down to make sure that they're not dealing with the potential of a ruptured appendix.

The press release itself just includes four questions, about white blood cell count, abodominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting. Hopefully, it will lead to fewer cases of ruptured appendices, because doctors will be able to spot the signs earlier.

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.

The Oceans Will Be the Death of Us

Sharks haven't needed to evolve for thousands of years. Why would they bother? They're nearly perfect killing machines.

And now it turns out that they're even more of a menace than we had originally thought. Female sharks can conceive babies without the help of a male (word of the day: parthenogenesis!). They're not asexual, since they have males and females, but if you leave a female alone for too long, she can knock herself up.

Scientists have seen it happen. Twice.

Sure, they're trying to downplay it, saying things like "It may just be an occasional mistake that sometimes occurs when eggs are left unfertilized," but I know the truth. Sharks are a pervasive threat that cannot be stopped!

I'm going to start doubling the amount of shark cartilage I take each day^*. It's them or us, people!

*I'm not actually taking any shark cartilage these days, so my total consumption will still be zero.

Snoring Children are Stupid Children

So sayeth the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. According to them, 2 out of every 3 children who snore have some kind of cognitive defecit. I want to know if they're looking at the chicken, or its egg.

The study sounds like it was a real party, because they used near infared spectroscopy, "which is able to penetrate the skull with high-powered light beams." While they were in there, they measured oxygen levels, and it turns out that kids who snore end up with brains that are less saturated with oxygen. Now, from the press release alone it's not clear whether the lack of oxygen stunts the brain's development and leads to the cognitive deficit, or whether the cognitive defecit is preventing them from correctly regulating their breathing while asleep.

Really, all they say at the end is that this study shows that they have a lot more to study. For one thing, children with sleep apnea (who also had the same high incidence of cognitive development) had higher blood oxygenation levels while asleep than "normal" children. So, it's a noteworthy study not because they learned anything groundbreaking, but because they're penetrating skulls and using high-powered light beams.

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.

Beetles Know Better Medicine; Beatles Play Lousy Music

Pine beetles have got better antibiotics than we do, and until a recent study they were using antibiotics we'd never heard of. It's an interesting development both because of what the study discovered and how it has been presented as news.

Baby beetles eat fungus. The mother beetle carries this fungus around with her, but she can also end up with a parasitic mite that carries its own fungus. The parasite's fungus would normally destroy the beetle's fungus, which would be disastrous for its children, but that's where the antibiotic comes in. The beetle has a special bacterium with antibiotic properties that destroys the intruding fungus and keeps its children well fed.

Bored yet? I know, beetle-on-fungus action isn't very exciting in its own right. That's why Harvard Medical School jazzed up their press release to read like a movie script, capturing the capture the drama of life-and-death struggles on a microbial level with action-packed thrills and chills. Not one to put style over substance, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has issued a more staid press release that's not above a little fear mongering as it quietly reminds us that discoveries of new antibiotics have slowed while bacteria resistant to existing antibiotics are spreading at an increasing rate. Which press release do you think is sexier?

And the Beatles? Yeah, I hate them and their music. Deal with it.