Had Any (Music) Lately?

Women prefer clean-shaven look: study

(NEWSER) - To beard or not to beard? Amid much contradictory research, a group of psychologists was determined to find out once and for all whether women prefer the scruffy look. Turns out they don't, the New Zealand and Canadian researchers discovered. They showed 200 women from New Zealand and Samoa pictures of 19 men from the same countries with full beards, then pictures of those men after shaving—two shots were taken in each case, one normal, and one in which the man was instructed to look angry. More»

Nirvana fans most likely to jump in the sack

(NEWSER) - If your idea of a good first date involves a roll in the hay, you’re probably not a Coldplay fan. You might be into Nirvana, though, a survey finds. The dating site Tastebuds.fm polled users on their willingness to have sex on the first date and compared it to their musical tastes, the Atlantic Wire reports. After Coldplay fans, those into Adele, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry were the least interested in first-date sex. More»

Female rockers don't get much action on tour, they say

(NEWSER) - Male rock stars are notorious for their groupie magnetism—but the same just isn’t true for female rockers, Salon finds. “Ladies in bands don’t get ANY action,” Neko Case tweeted last weekend, prompting a flurry of agreement from fellow women in rock. (Case made clear later she was not complaining, just stating a fact of the business.) “I have gotten laid exactly one time on tour, and it was an ex,” added a member of Crooked Fingers. So why the disparity? More»

Psychologist discusses female sexuality, and what men can do to get ahead

(NEWSER) - Psychologists Cindy Meston and David Buss, authors of the 2007 study “Why Humans Have Sex,” have completed a second go-round, this time focused on women only. They come up with 237 reasons, and though they're not enumerated in the article, Time asks Buss for some highlights:

• Besides sexual attraction and love, big reasons woman have sex are "to boost their self-esteem or sexual esteem, to get revenge, to secure 'mate insurance' in case a partner dumps them, to relieve pain, to achieve health benefits such as getting rid of a headache—yes, it works—to decrease stress, to lose weight, and as a sleep aid."

Research suggests if you don't swoon first time, opera may not be for you

(NEWSER) - The passion that opera fans feel for the art form is more akin to love at first sight than a slow-growing desire, Reuters reports. A sociologist focused on fans in the cheap seats who hadn't been brought up on opera, and found they tended to have an intense, explosive attraction to the opera the first time they went—with the learning process coming later. More»