MAGGIE WITTLIN Column Archive
Boy Crazy
Beheading wives who fail to produce a male heir is so 16th century. If dear Henry were alive in these enlightened times, he would probably use a much less barbaric method to ensure a son: He would infect his wives with a cat parasite. According to a study recently published in the journal Naturwissenschaften, women infected with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii can be more than twice as likely to give birth to a boy than to a girl. Researchers analyzed 1,800 baby records between 1996 to 2004 and found that likelihood of giving birth to a male increased in correlation with the concentration of Toxoplasma antibodies in the mother's body. With peak antibody concentration, a mother's likelihood of giving birth to a boy reached a maximum of 72 percent. The researchers posit that latent toxoplasmosis may suppress the immune system, increasing survival rate of male embryos. While Toxo infection is generally harmless, the parasite, which is often transmitted through cat feces, has been shown to correlate significantly with certain personality traits and has been linked to schizophrenia. So infecting yourself might come with risks, but hey, if you want to save yourselves from having to pay a daughter's dowry, you're going to have to make sacrifices.
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Walk It Off
Either men are much healthier when they're watching a football game or they're just way too distracted to bother with their health. Many American men, a new study suggests, will put off a trip to the emergency room until they finish watching a game. Research out of the University of Maryland found that male emergency room attendance increases by 50 percent after the conclusion of a football game. Also, 30 to 40 percent more men check into emergency rooms after a baseball game ends than during the innings. And David Jerrard, a Terrapin emergency physician, looked at hospital emergency room visits around 800 regular season college and pro football, baseball and basketball games in Maryland to find this post-game attendance spike. Jerrard warns, "Men should not risk their health by putting off going to the emergency room because they want to see the final results of a football game. It could be the last game they ever see." That's true, Dr. Jerrard, but it could also be the last game the Lions ever win.
Hot Couture
Don your corset and powder your nose, ladies: An egg is about to drop from your ovary. A study published in the journal Hormones and Behavior concludes that unlike other primates, which display their fertility status through obvious behavioral or physical changes, female members of H. sapiens advertise their fertility through subtle shifts in fashionability. Researchers at UCLA photographed 30 women when they were both very fertile and very unfertile. Judges selected the ovulating women as "trying to look more attractive" 60% of the time, which the authors say is statistically significant. They also note that the closer a woman was to ovulation when her picture was taken, the more frequently she was tagged stylish. The researchers add that while women may have shown more skin in their fancy getup, they did not dress more provocatively, just more fashionably. Yes, ovulating women are label whores and label whores alone.