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Boys with Longer Ring Fingers are Better at Math
slashthedot writes "While it is well known that boys have longer ring fingers as compared to index fingers, now some researchers say that the longer the ring finger ratio to index finger, the better boys are at math. In girls, the shorter the ring finger to index finger ratio, the better is their verbal skills. 'The link, according to the researchers, is that testosterone levels in the womb influence both finger length and brain development.'"
The beach boys gave boys all the math they'll ever need. And, it isn't related to the index finger or ring finger, but rather to the finger in between.
A little different that my usual pickup line, but what the heck!
I have a huge cock.
Nature saw fit to bless some of us more than others, enjoy your prime numbers nerds!
Somehow, I doubt Freud's work would be as widely known if he had come up with "ring finger envy."
In other news, men around the world replied to the findings with a cry of "Oh yeah? You should see my OTHER ratio." Women world around responded by placing their foreheads in their palms and sighing.
The ratio of men to women in mathematically intensive disciplines is purely the result of patriarchy, glass ceilings, canes as thick as thumbs, the porn industry, and enculturation via pink dresses and My Little Pony dolls.
Clearly, government must start an expensive program of Grrl Computer Camps to lower this ratio.
Let's just say that's not all we're better at.
adds up quickly to most people.
OK, so they found a correlation. But it was a correlation they weren't looking for, correct? If I check for the existence of 20 different correlations with a 95% confidence interval, wouldn't I be likely to find one even if none exist? Somebody else would have to confirm this finding for me to give it any credence.
Dissatisfied with your r1ng f1nger? We can help you...
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
In which way does this affect brain development? If more testosterone = better brain development, well, then sexism just raised by 50%.
The only way to truly know these things is through phrenology.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
> In girls, the shorter the ring finger to index finger ratio, the better is their verbal skills.
Well, this obviously was written by a boy with an extremely long ring finger then.
SAT Scores, aggression and penis size
The only thing these studies ever seem to accomplish is to piss off certain groups of people.
Black people get angry because there is a supposedly a correlation between being black and athletic prowess or being black and affinity for violent crime.
Women get angry because there is supposedly a correlation between sex and mathematical skills.
White males get angry because there is supposedly a correlation between being a white male and having an affinity for pedophilia. The list goes on and on and on.
Do these studies have any purpose other than to get PHDs published and make people angry or are they actually useful? I'd love for someone to explain the usefulness of this study and others.
I think the invisible hand of the market has its middle finger extended
--A wise old fart named SC0RN
Hopefully, if there actually WAS a difference in intelligence based on skin, it wouldn't be hushed for fear of sounding racist/nazi/un-PC.
But it probably would be: being diplomatic is more important today than finding the truth, right? I'm not saying that there is or isn't a difference, but any findings that support one WOULD be disregarded and/or attributed to the white supremacist agenda.
Not only have we heard of this just last week (haven't we? My memory's really bad these days ;_;), but also in 2004. Unfortunately, that study claims almost the opposite of this one: researchers, programmers and men teaching mathematics and physics tend to have longer index fingers. So, WTF?
The more fingers you have, the farther you can count.
...74 boys and girls aged 6 and 7....These differences are small but significant... That sample is not even close to large enough to take seriously. The test should have been done on adults, all of one gender and in a much larger pool with information on the genetic and racial history of the subjects. But even the starting premise that we're going to pin complex things like "depression, left-handedness, musical ability, and homosexuality" on slight differences in finger length ratio makes me hope that this psychologist doesn't have a lot of patients.Hax-fu?
Stopping research because people could conceivably use it for unethical purposes is a terrible idea. I'm no geneticist, but couldn't correlations we find like this help when we get deeper into genetic engineering by helping us isolate genes that produce a particular result?
The study itself can have merit. The problem is with people who take the study and seek to use it for other purposes.
For example, a study like this could help explain why some people seem to be "better" at certain areas of study (not because they have longer ring fingers, or because they are a different skin color, but because of certain chemicals being present in certain amounts during development). In turn, such a discovery could potentially lead to a cure for dyslexia for example, or any other learning disabilities. At the same time, someone could try to take this research and say that it means we should not allow certain races to breed with each other.
At what point does the power of a few idiots to use something for bad make it so that we ignore the potential benefits of research?
What?
Humans are fairly interesting in how their social development probably has more impact on their abilities than their biological potential.
In other words, the person with the best "brain" in the world could still end up as a druggy working at McD dropping out of school after failing, if they met the wrong people and made the wrong choices.
In a similar way, I pick up maths lightyears faster than my girlfriend: except I gave up on applied maths after graduating, while she continued in that field: result, she's a lot better than me at it. My "body" is still better at maths than hers, but I'm not using it, thus the result. Simple as that.
Boys extremely good in math tend to lack a ring on said finger.