Watercooler Stories

WOMEN WORK HARDER IN COLLEGE

Women in college work harder than men and as a result get better grades, according to a four-year study at Brunel University in England.

"It also makes the inequality for working women in terms of pay and promotion all the more poignant," says study leader Fiona Smith. "Women work harder at school, harder at university and do better in both, yet still receive less pay."

The study finds female students were more conscientious, less likely to miss lectures, while men missed lectures because of "other commitments," considered sports an important part of college life, and thought working hard was not "macho," the London Independent reports.

HEIGHT MATTERS

A University of Florida study finds short people get short changed when it comes to salary.

"Height matters for career success," says Timothy Judge, whose salary/height analysis is being published in the spring issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology.

"These findings are troubling in that, with a few exceptions such as professional basketball, no one could

argue that height is an essential ability required for job performance nor a bona fide occupational qualification."

A 1 inch increase in height resulted in an increase in annual earnings of $897 in the one study, $728 in a second study and $743 in a third, averaging to be about $789 more a year, according to the report.

DISPOSABLE DVD'S COULD PILE UP

A new disposable DVD technology gives borrowers two days to have the movie and then, like in "Mission Impossible" it self-destructs.

However, unlike its television cousin, the new "EZD" doesn't vaporize -- while the movie disappears the non-biodegradable plastic disc remains behind, reports KATU-TV in Portland, Ore.

While consumers may catch a break on late fees, environmentalists are unhappy with the added disposal

problem. Also unhappy are those who run video stores.

"People always consistently bring back movies late and that's where we get probably 45 percent of our income from," small video operator Denai Messa tells KATU.

SINGING, TALKING TO CHILDREN HELPS

Parents who talk and sing to their children give them a head start in school, says a study by the University of Oxford in England.

The study compared British children exposed to the Peers Early Education Partnership, a curriculum for disadvantaged babies and children up to age 4, and those who were not, the London Telegraph reports.

The parents who daily sang nursery rhymes and songs, played hide and seek and counted everyday objects, had children who tested 5 percent ahead in language comprehension and almost 8 percent better at numbers, the study says.