The SSC’s Official Science Newspaper
e rrent March 2014
thecurrent@westernssc.ca
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Volume 4 Issue 8
SUMMER MAGAZINE
edition of The Current on stands next week. Until then, enjoy the fantastic articles in this mini-issue! PSYCHOLOGY
Media makes more sex more appealing
IN THIS ISSUE...
The season for sex is here, but is the media telling you how much sex to have?
to the matter, participants of various studies showed quite an interesting reveal: those having sex roughly once per week were 44 per cent more likely to report a higher level of happiness than those who had not been sexually active in the previous year of their life. Perhaps one of the reasons for this correlation is that sex is well advertised in the media. Film and television portray sex as quite nonchalant in certain cases, and the aftermath of it more often than not highlights the characters in a story to be happy. Those who are less sexually active than, say, your favourite character in a TV show strive to mimic characters’ lifestyle, but often find failure of doing so. Unrealistic goals such as being obscenely wealthy and surrounded by copious amounts of potential sexual targets play a role in overall happiness. The data does not necessarily prove this, but it is one of many interesting ideas that sociologists take interest in while conducting surveys. What is initially left at the end of this “ponder” is that people do not usually look down and think they’re better off, but look up and think they are inadequate. The next time your best friend tells you how much sex they’re having, you will likely immediately ask yourself “how do I compare?” Always remember, there’s a time and place for everything and when you find it, you will most definitely be happy.
Adam Raffoul
Marketing Manager
1. 2. 3.
People are happier when they’re having sex, especially when having lots of it. Recent compilation of national survey data and statistical analysis translated into findings by Tim Wadsworth of the University of Colorado demonstrate a correlation between sexual frequency and overall happiness. The question is not simply “How much sex are you having, and how happy are you?” but rather “How happy are you, and then what is your sexual frequency?” To take the investigation one step further, sexual frequencies were controlled and people who believe they were having less sex than their friends, coworkers, and family members were generally unhappier. So not only does the physical aspect of sex heighten happiness (perhaps due to numerous physiological and hormonal processes), but so does the notion that having more sex than your peers can give you a sense of confidence and betterment in your own life as compared to others. Wadsworth quoted this idea, “having more sex makes us happy, but thinking that we are having more sex than other people makes us even happier”. To give some fact
Source: HBO.com
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
Female scientists given no recognition
These three women received no credit for their work
4. ! K O O L
Maham Bushra Blog Manager
1. Jocelyn Bell Burnell In 1967, while working with radio telescopes, Burnell discovered pulsars while she was a graduate student at Cambridge University in England. The existence of pulsars (remnants of supernovas) was ground breaking. It showed
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that the gigantic neutron stars did not just disappear, but left behind small, dense, rapidly rotating bodies. Her findings quickly resulted in a publication followed by a Nobel Prize, but the award went to her supervisor, Anthony Hewish. “The picture people had at the time of the way that science was done was that there was a senior man—and it was always a man— who had under him a whole load of minions,
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junior staff, who weren’t expected to think, who were only expected to do as he said,” explained Bell Burnell in an interview with National Geographic. Despite the injustice faced by Burnell at the time of her discovery, it is now universally accepted that she was the first person to make the distinction. 2. Rosalind Franklin At 33 years of age, while working as a research associate in King’s College in London, Franklin came to a discovery that revolutionized biology and genetics. Through X-ray experiments,
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The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. Its contents do not reflect the opinion of the University Students’ Council of the University of Western Ontario (“USC”). The USC assumes no responsibility or liability for any error, inaccuracy, omission or comment contained in this publication or for any use that may be made of such information by the reader.