Improbable Research

Complementing their postmodern approach to range science, the USDA-ARS, Jornada Experimental Range, Las Cruces, New Mexico,
has pioneered the development of the remote-controlled cow. Their directional virtual fencing (DVF™) electronics package is carried by the cows on an ear-a-round (EAR™). The results can be seen here.

Today’s Headline of the Day is from a press release issued by New York Medical College. The headline is:

Research findings show brain injury to soldiers can arise from exposure to a single explosion

BONUS: If you know of a study showing that brain injury to soldiers CANNOT arise from exposure to a single explosion, we would love to hear about it.

(Thanks to investigator Zach Messer for bringing this to our attention.)

A new study builds, in a sense, on the work of 1996 Ig Nobel economics prize winner Dr. Robert Genco [pictured here] of the University of Buffalo. Dr. Genco was honored then for his discovery that “financial strain is a risk indicator for destructive periodontal disease.” The new study is:

“Academic stress as a risk factor for dental caries,” Cynthia Mejía-Rubalcava, Jorge Alanís-Tavira, Liliana Argueta-Figueroa, Alejandra Legorreta-Reyna, International Dental Journal, vol. 62, no. 3, June 2012, pp. 127-31. The authors, at the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico (UAEMex), Toluca, Mexico, report:

“Conclusions: Moderate to high levels of academic stress, younger age and lower salivary flow rate represent risk factors for the development of dental caries in students.”

(Thanks to investigator Sergio Uribe for bringing this to our attention.)

BONUS: And of course, there’s the possibly unrelated question of sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar

BONUS (unrelated): Headline from Bloomberg News, May 17, 2012: “Dental Abuse Seen Driven By Private Equity Investments”

If you like to read about sugar or about aggressiveness, Brad J. Bushman [pictured here] and colleagues have a study perhaps worth some moments of your time:

“Sweetened blood cools hot tempers: physiological self-control and aggression,” C. Nathan DeWall, Timothy Deckman, Matthew T. Gailliot, Brad J. Bushman, Aggressive Behavior, 2011 Jan-Feb;37(1):73-80. The authors explain:

“Aggressive and violent behaviors are restrained by self-control. Self-control consumes a lot of glucose in the brain, suggesting that low glucose and poor glucose metabolism are linked to aggression and violence. Four studies tested this hypothesis. Study 1 found that participants who consumed a glucose beverage behaved less aggressively than did participants who consumed a placebo beverage. Study 2 found an indirect relationship between diabetes (a disorder marked by low glucose levels and poor glucose metabolism) and aggressiveness through low self-control. Study 3 found that states with high diabetes rates also had high violent crime rates. Study 4 found that countries with high rates of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency (a metabolic disorder related to low glucose levels) also had higher killings rates, both war related and non-war related. All four studies suggest that a spoonful of sugar helps aggressive and violent behaviors go down.”

BONUS: The song “A Spoonful of Sugar”, in the movie “Mary Poppins” (thanks to investigator Kurt Verkest for suggesting it, and suggesting “Sugar, Sugar“):

The question “Is coffee good or bad for your health” just got settled once and for all again, with a new answer that contradicts many previous studies, again. A new study presents a conclusion that answers everything, or nothing, or both:

“Association of Coffee Drinking with Total and Cause-Specific Mortality,” Neal D. Freedman, Ph.D. [pictured here], Yikyung Park, Sc.D., Christian C. Abnet, Ph.D., Albert R. Hollenbeck, Ph.D., and Rashmi Sinha, Ph.D., New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 366, May 17, 2012, pp. 1891-1904. The authors report:

“CONCLUSIONS: In this large prospective study, coffee consumption was inversely associated with total and cause-specific mortality. Whether this was a causal or associational finding cannot be determined from our data.”

BONUS: A look at the study and some of its predecessors.

BONUS: A different look at it, with this stirring passage:

In addition, the researchers note that they lacked specifics on how study participants prepared their coffee, and it could be that healthful and/or harmful attributes of the coffee might change depending on how it is prepared.

Still, they note, this study was larger than any previous study, and the number of deaths (>52,000) was more than double that in any earlier study.

BONUS: A headline (in the Atlantic Health Blog, about about this same study), that draws its own conclusion: “NIH Study: Coffee Really Does Make You Live Longer, After All”