Are Stressed Women More Attractive, or Less?

You may find it stressful to contemplate this study about attractiveness: “Facial attractiveness is related to women’s cortisol and body fat, but not with immune responsiveness,” Markus J. Rantala [pictured here, below], Vinet Coetzee, Fhionna R. Moore, Ilona Skrinda, Sanita Kecko, Tatjana Krama, Inese Kivleniece and Indrikis Krams, Biology Letters, epub May 22, 2013.  The […]

The Further Adventures of The Meat Industry Research Institute of New Zealand

Lively, if not entirely cheerful, debate can be provoked by mentioning this study done by a researcher at the Meat Industry Research Institute of New Zealand: “Effect of Stress-Related Changes in Sheepmeat Ultimate pH on Cooked Odor and Flavor,” T.J. Braggins, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 1996, 44 (8), pp 2352–2360: “In this study […]

She ponders on and in a strapless evening gown

SciCurious essays a look—perhaps a deeper and more gleeful look than ever has been looked—at Charles Seim’s classic “Analysis of a Strapless Evening Gown”. Seim [pictured below] is the very same Seim who is a decorated bridge designer. BONUS: The birth of “Stress Analysis of a Strapless Evening Gown” BONUS: Deborah Henson-Conant‘s five-movement orchestral work “Stress […]

Improbable Research