Beer and science don’t mix

Last updated on: March 5, 2008 at 10:53 am by Epiphenom

Beer and science don’t mix 2008-03-05T10:53:00+01:00 Epiphenom

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Via EvoPhylo, a Czech study on the effects of beer drinking on scientific output – and the news isn’t good. After controlling for age, the more beer a scientist drank, the fewer papers they published. And the beer drinkers got fewer citations per paper too.

What’s more, scientists living in Bohemia (beer-swilling sybarites) have a worse publication record than those living in Moravia (upstanding temperates).

The author goes on to note, somewhat glumly:

Importantly, publication success directly influences both financial income and social status both of which are known to affect fitness (Hopcroft 2006, Hauber 2007). Thus, quantity and quality of publications may have far reaching consequences for social success of academic workers and, consequently, may affect their biological success as well.

In other words, scientists who lay off the beer probably have more sex. The paper is Grim 2008 – a sure case of nominative determinism!

Still, the study was done on behavioural ecologists – maybe there’s still hope for other scientists.

Ref:

Tomáš Grim. A possible role of social activity to explain differences in publication output among ecologists. Oikos 2008 doi:10.1111/j.2008.0030-1299.16551.x

Open access text

Uncategorized

Previous Post

March 3, 2008

A new theory of moral psychology

Next Post

March 5, 2008 Moses: druggie or what?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Causes of religion - evolution Causes of religion - psychological Causes of religion - social Demographics Digest Effects of religion - health Effects of religion - psychological Effects of religion - social Notifications Politics Uncategorized

Select a Month March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which was the day that God ended His creation and rested?

Select your answer to see how you score.

On the 5th day On the 6th day On the 7th day He never rested