This Week in Science, we've got amazing breakthroughs in cloning, the culinary arts, astrophysics, and even some scary evidence that our phone addiction is damaging our brains.
But the biggest news out this week was that scientists have cracked the secret to making men look more attractive to women, and the best thing is it's just a dirt-cheap t-shirt.
Want to be more attractive to women? Wear a white t-shirt The science of attraction and mate selection is a tricky one, especially in humans. However, researchers from Nottingham Trent University have discovered that a plain white t-shirt with a black letter T printed on it can boost a man's attractiveness to women by up to 12 per cent.
The humble white t-shirt bestows upon men the illusion of the classic V-shaped masculine body, regardless of your body shape. The top bar of the letter T needs to be at least as long, if not longer, than the downward shaft of the T, which essentially draws attention to your top, broadening the appearance of your shoulders and slimming your waistline.
Apparently the most attractive waist-to-chest ratio is between 0.7 and 0.8, which is accentuated by the t-shirt. If you're failing to be a hit with the ladies, perhaps this t-shirt combined with the correct stubble length might just help. [Telegraph]
Your phone dependence is giving you "digital dementia" Researchers from South Korea, a country utterly obsessed with digital devices, have discovered a worrying trend that could impact us all. Apparently our ever-increasing use and reliance on devices that can instantly offer almost any piece of information, is damaging our memory.
That's not the worst part, either. Heavy users are at risk of seeing a change in the actual morphology of the brain, with over developed left hemispheres, and underdeveloped right hemispheres. It's particularly likely to cause developmental issues in children given unfettered access to devices, possibly leading to attention span and memory issues.
It's even possible that the left-side dominance could produce symptoms that mimic the early onset of dementia. Having a whole world of information instantly on tap at any time is changing the way we learn and remember, but some parts of it could be truly detrimental to future generations. [Telegraph]
Want fewer hurricanes? Start polluting again It seems lower levels of atmospheric pollution are linked with an increase in the number of extreme weather events like hurricanes.
New modelling data has shown that contrary to what you might expect, it's actually the decreasing levels of aerosol emissions in the air over the north Atlantic that's helping tropical storms to form.
Researchers discovered that pollution-fuelled cloud cover cools the north Atlantic, reducing the energy available to developing storm systems. It also increases wind shear in the Atlantic hurricane nursery, preventing the formation of storms in the first place. [Nature Geoscience]
Your choice of cutlery actually makes your food taste different New research into the science behind flavours has discovered that the tools you use to slice-up and shove food into your mouth, actually makes said food taste differently.
The size, shape and colour of your cutlery changes the way you subconsciously perceive food. For instance, different spoons altered the taste and perception of yoghurt. A heavy spoon made the yoghurt seem cheaper, more liquid and generally less appealing, while at the same time tasting sweeter. Stranger still, a blue spoon gave the sensation of being saltier, a white one made the yoghurt taste sweeter, and when it came to cheese, eating directly from a knife made it taste saltier.
It seems how we experience food isn't always dictated by our taste buds and sense of smell. Perhaps we can use cutlery to artificially boost our taste of salt and help reduce our sodium chloride intake? [Flavour]
