The Week contest - Obvious studies

Welcome to The Week's "What Next?" contest, an invitation to test your powers of imagination with challenges inspired by current events.

Click here for the results of the previous contest: Outdated theses

Last week's question: Facebook and Twitter are so addictive because they tap into a hardwired human instinct to tell other people about ourselves, new research at Harvard has found. We asked you to come up with the next blindingly obvious thing researchers will discover.

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RESULTS:

THE WINNER: Harvard Researchers of Facebook and Twitter Users Have Too Much Time on Their Hands, Yale Study Shows

Robert Burnett-Kurie, Manchester, OH

SECOND PLACE: People become Overweight When Tasty Food is Available in Large Quantities

Mary C. Furan, Albany, NY

THIRD PLACE: Politicians More Interested in Their Jobs than Effectively Governing Nation

Jared Brooks, Darien, IL

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

New Study Finds Humans Will Read Any Sentence That Begins, "New Study Finds"

Bob Linfors, Miami, FL

Harvard Research Finds that Most Studies Confirm Beliefs or Information Already Commonly Known

Brad Boskovic, Elmhurst, IL

People Don't Like Being Grabbed and Tickled on the Street by a Stranger, Even When You Tell Them You're Doing Research, Research Finds

Dallas Lea, Poughkeepsie, NY

Members of Group X Believe that Group X Deserves More Money

Zachary Anthony, St. Louis, MO

Strange Sounds Trigger Curiosity

Chris Elliott, Mercer Island, WA

Humans Prefer an Oxygenated Environment

Michael Eade, Garland, TX

No Matter How Persuasively Wealth is Described as Evil, People Still Pursue It

Tom Sheppard, Flat Rock, NC

People Get Older as Time Passes

Jerry Baronofsky, Brookline, MA

In The End, Everybody Dies

Martin Mechanick, Calabasas, CA

Government Over-Spending is Directly Proportional to Increases in National Debt

Clark Baird, Siloam Springs, AR

The Frequency One Sings Karaoke is Often Inversely Proportional to Talent

Raymond Smith, Lynn, MA

97.3% of Young Men Would Rather Have Sex than Cuddle

Russ Bensley, Homewood, IL

When a Sporting Event Ends, Fans of the Winning Team are Usually Happier than Fans of the Losing Team

Ken Kellam, Dallas, TX

More People are Using Smartphones than 50 Years Ago

Dustin Smith, Cambridge, MA

98% Of People Think Predicting the Weather is Impossible But Never Miss the Forecast

John Lynn, Pittsburgh, PA

New Study Indicated Men are Attracted to Pictures of Naked Women

Dennis Crowley, Roanoke, VA

A Mail Survey Finds that Luddites Shun Computers

Kathy El-Assal, Middletown, WI

Mirrors Tap Into Hardwired Human Vanity

Helen Crofoot, West Hills, CA

Playing Football Can Lead to Injuries, Finds AMA

Richard Skinner, Helotes, TX

Minnesota Twins Not Born at the Same Time

Wald Klimczyk, Janesville, WI

Recent Harvard Research Has Found that Taxes are Unpopular

Malia Zaidi, Pittsburgh, PA

The Majority of Persons Who Enter Contests Hope They Will Win

Louis Phillips, New York, NY