Brains & naps / Sloth hair / Apples & Onions / Meeting eclipse

This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has four segments. Here are bits of each of them: Time for a nap — Brainy people get to dream a little more than not-quite-so-brainy people, correlationally speaking, if their brains and genomes accord with the findings of researchers from the University of the Republic in Uruguay, University […]

The seasonal pulsing in size of skulls and penises

The gentle pulsing in size of body parts is one of Nature’s seasonal wonders. Evidence of this — with skulls and penises, respectively — is documented in two (well, three) studies published this year. Some Weasel Skulls Pulse Bigger and Smaller, Seasonally “Growth overshoot and seasonal size changes in the skulls of two weasel species,” […]

Female Brain Size and Male Genitalia Length [new study]

Researchers in Sweden and Australia published a new study exploring how the length of males’ genitalia affects the size of females’ brains. Anyone who reads the study discovers that it’s about a species of tiny fish; and the effect, if it happens, occurs over the span of many generations, possibly not so much with individual females […]

Small study suggests suggesting that if women quit smoking, they will think they get bigger breasts

This tiny Italian study examined the gently-directed breast-centric introspection of a few women who had recently quit smoking. The study is: “Breast change perception in women after smoking cessation. A pilot study,” Cinzia De Marco, Giovanni Invernizzi, Rosalba Miceli, Luigi Mariani, Anna Villarini, Elena Munarini, Roberto Mazza, and Roberto Boffi [pictured below], Tumori, vol. 97, no. 5, pp. 672-675. […]