Pull My Finger

by Charles

BBC reports on a study which links the lengths of mens' finger lengths and their levels of aggression.

The length of a man's fingers can reveal how physically aggressive he is, Canadian scientists have said.

The shorter the index finger is compared to the ring finger, the more boisterous he will be, University of Alberta researchers said.

But the same was not true for verbal aggression or hostile behaviours, they told the journal Biological Psychology after studying 300 people's fingers.

The trend is thought to be linked to testosterone exposure in the womb.

My ring finger is slightly longer than my index, so read into it what you will.  There was no mention of a correlation between the lengths of mens' fingers and other protuberances.  In other science news, BBC reports on more research which confirms earlier findings that there is no link between autism and the vaccine for mumps, measles and rubella (MMR).  Despite notable declines in usage of the vaccine, autism rates continue to climb (partly due, perhaps, to a broadening of the definition).  This builds on a report from a year ago, where the Lancet scientific journal recanted an article on a flawed 1998 study which started this whole mess.  The American Academy of Pediatrics also raised questions, focusing on thimerosal, a preservative in MMR that contains trace amounts of mercury.  It's a sad story because bad science unduly frightened parents away from giving their children vaccines, thus putting them at risk.  Equally sad are the interest groups, in particular trial lawyers, who remain resistant to these new findings.  What has also occurred is that resources which could have been invested in more useful and productive avenues toward treating and preventing autism have been diverted elsewhere.  Although over a year old, this piece reveals some of the politics behind the issue.

Since we're on a semi-scientific jag here, one of the commenters here was wondering about environmental issues, and several sites came up in the ensuing conversation.  I can't judge their quality, since I haven't read them in any depth, but here are a few:

• debitage, the writings of a PhD at Clark University in Massachusetts.
• kinja, which is a webportal to other environmental weblogs.
• gristmill, a bloggy offshoot of Grist Magazine.
• Crumb Trail, which covers a potpourri of environmental/scientific issues.
• The Commons, a free market oriented environmental weblog.  I'm a fan of one of the contributors, Jonathan Adler.
• Real Climate, a "commentary site on climate science by working climate scientists for the interested public and journalists."
• Prometheus, which focuses on science policy matters.

Comments

[Jay C.]

Link glitch alert, Charles:
Your first BBC link leads to the MMR/autism report, NOT the finger-length one!

[hilzoy]

Hi -- and thanks for collating the environmental links. If I get some free time, I'll try to put them to good use, though I'm working on a non-environmental post right now.

My ring finger is longer than my index figure, normally a guy thing. Apparently, this means that I am likely to display "more frustrated behaviour when answering challenging telephone calls than other women." (I don't.)

Is this the sort of quasi-open thread where posting fun things I've found recently would be appropriate? I'm just going to take the risk, at least for one of them, and say: go check out Hedgical Trevor (via Majikthise). The best pictures are a little over halfway down. I particularly enjoy the series in which HT is trying to find a cozy place to lie down on the computer desk. Enjoy!

[Charles Bird]

Link glitch alert, Charles.

Ack! Fixed.

[Jay C.]

Anyway, while waiting for CB to fix the link, I did some semi-scientific research on my own (mainly by measuring in millimeters for greater precision). Jay C hereby offers himself as test subject for whatever hypothesis you want to project by publishing the following data:
Ring/index finger length: Left hand: 86mm/78mm , Right hand: 84mm/77mm (odd, because I'm right-handed but there you are). R/I ration L: 1/1.1102 R: 1/1.0909, average ratio 1/1.1105.
I anxiously await the results.
Oh, PS: hilzoy, congatulations on your apparent possession of the telephone-call-patience gene. Would that we were ALL so blessed!.

[crionna]

Well, if we're linking to funny stuff....Here's an interesting take on Christo's gates.

[Jonas Cord]

Crionna, I've seen those particular installations in Central Park, but regrettably, so did my dog...

[Bernard Yomtov]

Unlike Jay, I lack finger calipers, and Home Depot was out of stock. However, I can report that on my left hand my ring finger is perhaps two or three mm longer than the index, and on my right they are roughly equal or the index might be one mm longer.

Where are you supposed to measure from, by the way, and do you take curvature into account?

[bob mcmanus]

9/16" difference on my right hand...I don't do metric well or conversions. Finally a "bigger than yours" argument I can win...never mind, forget I said that. Evidence that might counter my massive testosterone level hypothesis is my full head of hair and lack of a backrug. My feet and nose are also small. But I can touch the tip of my nose with my tongue and make sounds like a buzzing fly by vibrating it fast, and roll it into a tube. Not all simultaneously, but variety is a good thing.

Phone number available with email.

[Jay C.]

Bernard:
In the interests of scientific inquiry: explanation of methodology follows:
I used an inch/cm ruler, and pushed it in to just touch the flesh between my finger(s), keeping the finger flat as possible, and eyeballing the last mm the finger covered. I did this twice for each finger on each hand.
As there is, apparently, no established metric for the interpretation of this data (the BBC's article being long on hormones. short on numerical data), we are, sad to say on our own; having, it seems, an excess of time on our hands.
;)

[Frank Quist]

One correction regarding the environment links: Kinja is not a webportal to environmental blogs but a create-your-own-digests site. The page you link to is an individual user's digest containing environmental blogs. Kinja unfortunately does not have an official digest concerning the environment.

[hilzoy]

No one else likes Hedgical Trevor? (pout)

[Bernard Yomtov]

Jay,

In measuring the ring finger are you measuring on the pinky side or the middle finger side? I assume the index is measured on the middle finger side.

[Captain Sunshine]

I would also point out Chris C Mooney's blog as a good environmentally-oriented blog, especially for climate change links and discussions.

CS

[Dianne]

I liked HT.

[ral]

No one else likes Hedgical Trevor? (pout)

Hilzoy, I followed the link. He's very cute.

[Jay C.]

Bernard:
Ring finger on longer (pinky) side, index, yes.
Hilzoy:
Don't pout, I like Trevor, too.

[hilzoy]

Not to worry; I've moved on from pouting to complete bewilderment.