What useless study (research) do you know about?

Apparently bears shit in the woods….& do “other stuff” too! Who knew? :¬)

@ucme, a real study was done on that? Wow.

@Pandora It’s just the bear necessities after all. Can you pick a pawpaw? :¬)

You made me google this. ;-)

I’ll say that I think there is very little in terms of research that should be considered “useless.” The closest I think are the things on that site – research that proves as fact something we pretty much were already sure was a fact universally.

I heard of studies to find out the effects of prayer on medical conditions.

PS – The study showing “Gymnastics Team More Dangerous than Debate Team” is my favorite on that list.

According to scientists: giving lurve at least once a day keeps the doctor away.

Um who cares? Only millions of people who want an aphrodisiac. That’s all.

You may laugh all you want. If this guy’s research ends up finding the molecule that turns people on, anyone who owns a share of his work is going to be fabulously wealthy.

The fact that so many studies sound ridiculous is that scientists don’t always use the best marketing techniques. Or maybe they don’t care, so long as it gets publicity. Or maybe it’s just too damn hard to summarize the research question, the data, the methods, the results and implications for the future in a headline. The problem, I think, is the scientific illiteracy in this country, particularly in the halls of Congress.

There are lots of examples from the Dilbert zone. Most research into management techniques are, IMHO, a complete waste of time. If you’ve ever been pulled away from your real work to participate in some vapid team-building exercise, you know what I mean.

@wundayatta Point is, does the world need mor aphrodisiacs? Come on. We already have little blue pills and spanish fly. Is it necessary to understand why tears can be a turn off. Are there armies of crying women going around trying to use tears as a come on and wondering why their guy may be turned off during tears. When I’m upset I don’t exactly want my husband to come on to me. So if it works to keep him at bay, than I’m all for nature doing its thing. Hell I get turn off by tears as well. It usually has something to do with feeling helpless in making the person feel better. And who doesn’t get annoyed by someone who cries a lot. They are simply an emotional train wreck.
Or how about, happy positive people attrack people in general compare to sad, negative people.
Or are scientist concerned that an army of crying women can disarm an army of men and beat them to death while crying because their testosterone levels drop. I’m not against needed studies. The point is with so little money to go around, why do they fund stupid research that does nothing to improve health or quality of life. This study is not going to stop women from crying. Women are not going to hold in tears for fear their man won’t come on to them when they are upset. Studies have also already proven that crying is great for relieving stress so lets go with that.
@iamthemob WOW, Thats a good one. Mothers of debate teams can now rest knowing those kids are in minimal danger. Or maybe we can debate this. Hold on a sec, I have to throw on my helmet. LOL, That is a funny one.
@IchtheosaurusRex Ah, dilbert. Always an awesome comment on studies.

@Pandora Unfortunately, or fortunately, you have to prove everything. You can’t rely on common sense. Far too often, it turns out to be common, but not sense.

Who needs more aphrodisiacs? I don’t know, but I also know it’s not for me to decide. The marketplace decides—more or less. You can play God if you want, if people will let you. But other than that, bashing a study, having only read the headline and without actually having read the paper is like driving your Cadillac blindfolded. Sooner or later there’s going to be a bend in the road.

men smelling women’s tears get turned off.

@littlebeck30 Yeah, go figure.