Health & Science

How men react to political losses

When John McCain lost the election last November, his male supporters also suffered a blow—to their manliness, a new study found. Several times over the course of Election Night, researchers had a bipartisan group of voters salivate into test tubes. The contents were later analyzed to measure levels of testosterone, the hormone linked to stress, risk-taking, and aggression. The results were striking: Male McCain supporters saw their hormone levels plummet, while Obama backers’ stayed stable. (Women, who have much less testosterone, also maintained stable levels, regardless of party affiliation.) “This is a pretty powerful result,” neuroscientist Kevin LaBar tells ABCnews.com. “Voters are physiologically affected by having their candidates win or lose an election.” The results square with prior research showing that competition affects hormone levels—though in those cases, subjects were direct participants. Researchers say the loser’s testosterone reduction may be a survival mechanism, helping him chill out so he doesn’t press his case and risk injury. “Elections are highly unique dominance contests,” says researcher Steven Stanton—affecting even those who participate merely by watching television.

Our growing family of planets

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Earth is the only known habitable planet in the cosmos, but the odds that it’ll retain that distinction continue to dwindle. European astronomers last week announced the discovery of 32 more planets beyond our solar system, bringing the total of known extrasolar planets, or exoplanets, to more than 400. The newly found exoplanets orbit their suns at distances that wouldn’t permit liquid water to form. Still, they are generally closer to Earth’s size than the massive planets that scientists already knew about, which raises the likelihood “that there are Earth-like planets everywhere,” astronomer Stéphane Udry tells National Geographic. “Nature doesn’t like a vacuum. If there is space to put a planet, there will be a planet there.”

A taste for fizz

Fizzy water doesn’t just feel different, it tastes different, too, and now scientists know why. Earlier research found that when carbonated drinks are consumed in a pressure chamber, in which the bubbles don’t burst, they still taste “fizzy”; this finding suggested that carbon dioxide has a distinct flavor. Now, scientists working with mice—which have taste buds similar to ours—have determined that we actually sense carbon dioxide with our sour taste buds: Cells in the taste buds contain an enzyme that reacts with carbon dioxide, creating a slightly acidic signal. Researchers suspect the response evolved to help us avoid spoiled food. It may also explain why novice Champagne drinkers sometimes report that the beverage tastes sour, sensory scientist Hannah Williams tells Science Online. “It does have a different note, and I guess it comes from the carbonation effect.”

A cave of her own

Archaeologists have studied “caveman” art for decades. But a new study suggests that at least some of it was made by cavewomen, and even cavekids. Researchers measured a series of finger-drawn lines, or flutings, made in the Rouffignac Cave in southwest France some 13,000 years ago. They then calculated the relative lengths of the ring, middle, and index fingers responsible for each drawing. Men generally have longer ring fingers than index fingers; in women the ratio is equal or reversed. Based on the “digit ratio,” researchers concluded that most of the artists in the cave were female. Some of the flutings were small enough that they were probably made by young children. The study is among the first to identify individual cave artists, “and, as such, they really come to life,” researcher Leslie Van Gelder tells Discovery News. Studying cave art, Van Gelder notes, helps us see our ancient ancestors “in their complexity as human beings.”

Why won’t that dog stop barking?

If the neighbor’s dog is driving you crazy with its barking, have a heart: Odds are it’s just a little lonely, a new study suggests. Researchers in Australia surveyed 150 owners of “nuisance barkers” and found that dogs that bark the most when alone are the ones most accustomed to contact and stimulation. Herding breeds, like border collies and German shepherds, which tend to need more stimulation, were more likely to bark, as were dogs that had been raised with other dogs. Those adopted from shelters were less likely to bark, perhaps because they miss their owners less. “It may be that homebred dogs are greater barkers because of greater separation anxiety,” study author Clive Phillips tells Discovery News. But while a silent dog may please the neighbors, a lack of yelps doesn’t necessarily mean the dog is happy, cautions animal behavior specialist Paul McGreevy. “A dog that’s quietly melting in distress is rarely identified as a dog suffering separation anxiety.”