Cameron Diaz, blonde and brunette

In Study 1, a female confederate whose hair color was dyed blonde, brunette, or red was instructed to sit in several nightclubs. It was found that she was approached significantly more frequently by men in the blonde condition. In Study 2, images of the same confederate were rated by 126 men. Results showed that the brunette stimulus was rated as more physically attractive, intelligent, approachable, competent, and arrogant, whereas the blonde stimulus was rated as more needy. These results are discussed in relation to the literature on hair color and attractiveness, but also in terms of women’s own perceptions of their hair color.

What do you think of the results?

For more info:
Swami, V. & Barrett, S. (2011). British men’s hair color preferences: An assessment of courtship solicitation and stimulus ratings. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 52, 595–600.

Superbowl 2012

It is known that stressors such as intense sporting events may increase cardiac event rates in fans, but there has been little data available on the demographics of these fans. Based on our linear regression analysis, our study suggested that Los Angeles’ 1980 Super Bowl loss increased total and cardiac deaths in both men and women and triggered more deaths in older patients compared with younger patients. Conversely, the 1984 Super Bowl win showed a trend for reduction of death rates, slightly better in older than younger patients and in women more than men. There were no significant interactions between Super Bowl and race in our linear regression analyses.

The concept that sporting events may be associated with an increase in cardiac events was best studied in the European soccer literature. During the 2006 World Cup, when the German team played, there were increases in acute coronary syndromes and arrhythmias. The increase in cardiac events was more prominent in men than in women. Other reports of an increase in cardiac events and deaths suggest a prevalence in males. However, in our study there was no interaction between the 1980 Super Bowl loss and sex. In other words, there was an increase in total mortality as well as cardiac mortality in both men and women. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of an increase in cardiac events in women associated with the Super Bowl. Although the exact mechanism for this observation is not known, there are several possibilities. The Super Bowl may elicit an emotional response that is similar in US females and males, or perhaps a male’s reaction to the Super Bowl loss adversely affected the emotional state of a female partner.

Older patients are of course more likely to have advanced coronary artery disease, but there is little data in the literature regarding triggering of cardiac events in older vs younger individuals. Whereas both older and younger people demonstrated an increase in total and cardiac mortality, the absolute increase in death rates was greater in older (2.6 per day) than in younger individuals (0.11 per day), and the regression model demonstrated a significant interaction between the Super Bowl variable, age, and all-cause mortality (P < 0.0001) as well as circulatory death (P = 0.0002). The mechanism for this finding is not known, but it may be that atherosclerotic plaques in elderly patients are more vulnerable to rupture in response to an increase in catecholamines or stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system than are plaques in younger patients.

Unlike the 1980 Super Bowl loss, the 1984 Super Bowl win, just a few years later and on a similar date (January 22, 1984, vs January 20, 1980), was not associated with an increase in total mortality or cardiac mortality. In fact, there was a slight reduction in mortality. This signal tended to be greatest in women and older individuals. As described in the Background section of this article, there were marked differences in the nature of these 2 Super Bowl games, beyond the fact that the 1980 game was a loss for Los Angeles and the 1984 game was a win. The 1980 loss was a much more intense game, with frequent lead changes. Fan loyalty may also have been greater in 1980 than in 1984, because the losing Rams had been in Los Angeles since 1946, whereas in 1984 the winning Raiders had only been playing in Los Angeles for a few years. In addition, the 1980 Super Bowl loss happened locally, in Pasadena, and the 1984 Super Bowl win took place out of state, in Florida. Hence, the emotional involvement of fans was likely greater for the 1980 Super Bowl loss.

Whether a major sporting event (win or loss) can trigger death, including cardiac death, may in part be dependent upon demographics.

Source: Kloner RA, McDonald SA, Leeka J, Poole WK. Role of age, sex, and race on cardiac and total mortality associated with Super Bowl wins and losses. Clin Cardiol 2011;34(2):102–107.

Credit: QS World University Rankings

QS, the leading global career and education network, released the 2011 Asian University rankings with mostly universities from Hong Kong and Japan occupying the spots for best universities in the top 10. The rankings were based on Academic Peer Review (index), Recruiter Review, Student Faculty Ratio, Bibliometrics (Papers per Faculty and Citations per Paper), and International Factors (proportion of international students).

It is quite sad to see that the highest the Philippines could place is at no. 62. Thanks to the University of the Philippinesthat ranked fairly high in all 5 essential academic areas: Arts and Humanities (no. 20), Engineering and Technology (no. 63), Social Sciences and Management (no. 27), Natural Sciences (no. 39), Life Sciences and Medicine (no. 37). As you can see, our top Philippine university was rated high on Arts and Humanities, but very low on Engineering and Technology. This actually shows the areas our schools/universities in the country should focus more on improving.

There are only 4 Philippine universities that managed to be in the top 200 Asian Universities. Here they are with their rankings:

63 – University of the Philippines (UP)
65 – Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU)
104 – University of Santo Tomas (UST)
107 – De La Salle University (DLSU)

I looked at the rankings of the top 4 Philippine universities according to the 5 essential academic areas and found that, even though De La Salle University is the 4th best in the country, it actually ranked better than University of Santo Tomas in four of the five academic aspects. The only area that UST was much better that DLSU was on Life Sciences and Medicine.

Arts and Humanities:
20 – University of the Philippines
29 – Ateneo de Manila University
59 – De La Salle University
103 – University of Santo Tomas

Engineering and Technology:
63 – University of the Philippines
89 – Ateneo de Manila University
113 – De La Salle University
157 – Mapua Institute of Technology
170 – University of Santo Tomas

Social Sciences and Management:
27 – University of the Philippines
46 – Ateneo de Manila University
79 – De La Salle University
136 – University of Santo Tomas

Natural Sciences:
38 – Ateneo de Manila University
39 – University of the Philippines
98 – De La Salle University
104 – University of Santo Tomas
151 – University of San Carlos

Life Sciences and Medicine:
37 – University of the Philippines
61 – University of Santo Tomas
64 – Ateneo de Manila University
74 – De La Salle University
158 – Silliman University
174 – Xavier University
177 – Saint Louis University
195 – University of San Carlos

The most interesting part of the rankings is the inclusion of other Philippine universities in the top 200 when each areas are analyzed individually. The “Arts and Humanities” and the “Social Sciences and Management” are dominated by the top 4. However, Mapua Institute of Technology (MIT) beat University of Santo Tomas (UST) in “Engineering and Technology” by placing 4th, and UST moved to 5th.

In it also very important to note that the University of San Carlos in Cebu appeared twice in the top 200 in specific areas such as “Natural Sciences” (no. 151) and “Life Sciences and Medicine” (no. 195).

Among the 5 areas in consideration, it looks like the “Life Sciences and Medicine” is what the Philippines is good at, with 8 universities entering the top 200 in Asia. Apart from the top 4, Silliman University (no. 158), Xavier University (no. 174), Saint Louis University (no. 177), and University of San Carlos (no. 195) were rated as best universities in “Life Sciences and Medicine” in the country.

Should we rejoice with this current rankings? Not at all. Placing at no. 63 is not good enough. Also, we have so many universities in the country that are not even listed in the 200+, which means they are below the quality of education that is worthy of international recognition.

There are still more work to do to improve our education system!

What do you think of the rankings?

Imagine a circle that contains all of human knowledge:


By the time you finish elementary school, you know a little:

By the time you finish high school, you know a bit more:

With a bachelor’s degree, you gain a specialty:

A master’s degree deepens that specialty:

Reading research papers takes you to the edge of human knowledge:

Once you’re at the boundary, you focus:

You push at the boundary for a few years:

Until one day, the boundary gives way:

And, that dent you’ve made is called a Ph.D.:

Of course, the world looks different to you now:

So, don’t forget the bigger picture:

Keep pushing.

Book Cover: The Craft of Scientific Presentations

1. Giving the wrong speech
This has something to do with not orienting yourself on the various fields of expertise your audience is into. Before any presentation, make a quick background information of the attendees. This way, you will have at least a general idea of whom you are talking to.

2. Drawing words from the wrong well
Do not be overwhelmed by the outstanding results you have. Remember, you have to communicate what you have and know to your audience. If the listening participants are able to grasp the points you want to convey, then you are on the right track. To accomplish this, make sure you do not read from your slides. Be spontaneous with your talk.

3. Leaving your audience at the dock
This means that you left your passengers at the dock. As the captain of the ship, ensure that everyone is on board and ready to head for a journey to the sea. Get your audience oriented on what you are trying to present — let them see where you are heading to. Have a clear transition between slides and your thoughts. Leaving the audience wandering somewhere is a big mistake.

4. Losing the audience at sea
When you have brought them all to the sea, don’t let them fall off the ship. This situation could easily happen when you take everything in detail (with all the technicalities). Bear in mind the disparities in expertise inside the room. Do not drown them with details. Tell them only what they need. Get the momentum going through a smooth flow of ideas and warning them if you are about to end.

5. Presenting a slide no one reads
I am guilty of this. This is like serving pork steak to a vegetarian. Leave out the absurd ideas and focus on the essentials. Serve the audience a buffet of slides following the proper format — observing the number of lines in a slide, the font size, and the images that must be in it. For the buffet to be sumptuous, get the color combination correct. Dark texts to a dark background is a big no-no!

6. Presenting a slide no one remembers
Make your slides count and last. Make the audience own it. It is more of quality than quantity.

7. Not taking Murphy’s Law into the scene
Murphy’s Law has to be taken into account. What goes wrong, could go wrong. Prepare before the presentation by coming in early.

8. Not preparing enough
This is related to no. 7. Prepare for the consequences to happen. Memorize what is needed to be memorized. You do not want to suddenly become blank in the middle of your presentation.

9. Not paying attention
Pay attention and be sensitive to your audience and their responses. Do not try to avoid the issues that may arise along the way.

10. Losing composure
Very normal to experience this if you are not used to giving presentation. However, you can overcome this through days of practice and preparation.

These are the major critical errors that must be avoided in a scientific presentation. If you have some other ideas to share, leave me some comments below.