No Falsettos, Please
by Gabrielle on October 4th, 2007
[Note: I’ve been waiting to post this because I keep thinking there is a hilarious joke in here someplace - At least a good one-liner. But a week has gone by and I’m stumped. And I don’t want to be responsible for withholding the latest scientific research from you, my readers. So, without further delay….]
Did you know that a deep voice could signify higher odds of being a baby daddy? That’s what a recent study from researchers from Harvard University, McMaster University and Florida State University says.
According to an article in this week’s Money Times:
Researchers, who based their findings on a group of hunter-gatherers in Tanzania known as the Hadza, found that men with the masculine voices father more children….
The groups of researchers chose this demographic because they are a “natural fertility population” i.e. they don’t use any birth control methods.
Basically, researchers held microphones up to folks and asked them to say a few words, then compared the tone of their voices to the number of children they had. Very scientific, no? Coren Apicella, a doctoral candidate at Harvard says there is still significant study to be done but speculates that the correlation between speech and sperm could signify a number of things. Don’t doctoral students always say this?
“The results of this study have implications for the evolution of vocal dimorphism,” says Apicella. “While we don’t know the exact reason that these men with deeper voices have fathered more children, it may be that they have increased access to mates, begin reproducing at an earlier age or their wives have shorter inter-birth intervals because they provide more food to them.”
Conclusions? None. Useful information for the general public? Not really. At least a good trivia answer? Not even.
Sigh.
Why doesn’t anyone ask us about research that would matter before going off and doing a “hey wouldn’t it be interesting if….” study?
Tags: birth control, deep voice, fertility, Florida State University, Hadza, harvard, McMaster University, natural fertility population, sperm., Tanzania, vocal dimorphism
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POSTED IN: fertility boosts?, news and events, research
2 opinions for No Falsettos, Please
kendra
Oct 5, 2007 at 9:12 pm
Amen sister! I hear ya on that one. Useless research takes up money and time. :)
Gabrielle
Oct 6, 2007 at 8:57 am
You have perfect timing! I was thinking of you as I researched my next post…coming soon.
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