Do Not Feed the Mutant Chickens
Why did the chicken cross the road? To get away from its freakish mutant friends who have alligator teeth.
Back in the good old days, about 70 or 80 million years ago, all birds had teeth. But the teeth disappeared to create the beaked creatures we know and love today. Nevertheless, German researchers recently discovered a gene mutation that makes chickens grow conical, saber-shaped, alligator-like teeth. The mutation, sadly, also affects organ development, and chickens born with the mutation generally don't even live for two weeks. The scientists are looking backwards, attempting to figure out what the teeth of the first birds looked like, but surely someone is looking forward to creating a master race of toothed warrior chickens.
(source: ScienceNOW)
Ziel!
Congratulations, Germany, on your 2006 World Cup victory! Oh, sure, you haven't actually played any games yet—the soccer tournament is still months away—but University of Dortmund physics professor Metin Tolan has used a completely, utterly, unfalteringly foolproof method to show that this is your year.
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First, Tolan looked at average goal rates for previous World Cup tournaments, which gave German a 10.69% chance at the championship. But 10.69% is a number only the French would accept. ("Oh! We're not going to win! You're going to beat us! We surrender!") So Tolan raised the German goal rate by one point to account for home-field advantage: That upped Germany to a 33.18% chance at victory. But that assumes an average audience, not a hearty, Oktoberfest-anticipating German audience. Tolan concluded that a home-field advantage in Germany would increase goal rate by two points, so Germany's probability of winning is 56.39%.
Tolan has also rigorously shown that Germany will win every fourth or fifth World Cup. Five World Cups took place between the first two sets of victories, then four more happened before they won again. Guess what? Four World Cups have happened since then, so achtung, other teams! The invincible Germans are coming your way.
(source: University of Dortmund)
Shall We Fight to the Death, My Good Man?
It would be so romantic to think gladiators just went at each other with medieval weapons (advanced for the time), hacking away until one or the other was nothing but a bloody pulp. Alas, a new Austrian study shows that gladiators followed set rules, only using one weapon, never mutilating their opponents and probably not dispatching a defeated rival in front of the crowd. Where's the entertainment in that?
Researchers studied the remains of second century fighters found in a Turkish gladiator cemetery. Skull injuries showed only one weapon was used per bout and a scarcity of injuries shows gladiators weren't mutilators. Even though they wore helmets during fights, 10 of the gladiators had died of a hammer-like blow to the side of the head, indicating the condemned might have been dragged backstage and dispatched by an on-hand executioner. What class!
(source: New Scientist)
Dress to Impress, Or Else
Good clothes allow you access to more good clothes. According to an Ohio State University study, women who dress better get faster, friendlier service at large clothing stores. Two researchers who probably seemed downright creepy to the rest of the shoppers, rated women as they walked into a shop on 10 components: attractiveness of clothing, fashionability, formality, femininity, overall grooming, hair grooming, make-up, clothing fabric quality, accessory quality and purse quality.