Watercooler Stories

Topless woman no big deal in Times Square

NEW YORK, March 14 (UPI) -- A New York City photographer has learned he just can't ruffle feathers or create mayhem in Times Square with a topless, dancing red-haired beauty.

Jordan Matter, 38, spent more than two hours Sunday afternoon shooting model Julia Wiederman, 24, topless in various locations, but passers-by were entirely unfazed, the New York Daily News said.

It was part of Matter's "Uncovered" project, whose portfolio of 40 topless women photographed around the city is on his Web site, jordanmatter.com.

"I tried to photograph mayhem, and there wasn't any," he said.

"Whatever," shrugged Brenna Tooley, 20, of Sherman, Texas.

"Nobody really cares," said Joe Davis, 41, of St. Louis.

"I'm not surprised," said Rick Gillis, 57, of Kansas City, Kan.

As for the model, she said it was no big deal.

"It's just boobs," Wiederman said.

Scientists: sheep feel love, friendship

CAMBRIDGE, England, March 14 (UPI) -- Scientists at the Babraham Research Institute in Cambridge, England, say sheep have many similarities to humans, including feeling love and loss.

Professor Keith Kendrick said sheep fall in love, have best friends and feel sad when members of the flock die or are slaughtered, the Western Mail reported Monday.

The scientists inserted electrodes into the brains of ewes to measure their reactions to certain stimulations. The sheep were shown pictures of rams they were closely associated with or sheep in their group of "friends." The scientists then analyzed data collected by machines.

Kendrick said sheep and human brains are similar in other areas, as well.

"We have now provided strong evidence that sheep possess very similar abilities to humans in using faces to recognize one another and also have the same specialized neural networks in their temporal and frontal cortices," he said.

Deep voices draw the ladies

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, England, March 14 (UPI) -- Basses beat baritones, according to a British university study that found women correlate deep voiced men with dominance, masculinity and confidence.

A study by part-time psychology lecturer and PhD student Sarah Evans at Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne found that women consider deep voices more attractive, sexy, assertive, confident and friendly.

Male listeners had similar responses to deep male voices over high-pitched voices.

Evans hypothesized deep male voices signal to women a man's hormonal and genetic quality, and signal social dominance to rival men.

"It is well established that many animals use vocal calls to attract females and intimidate their male competitors, but this has yet to be looked at in any depth vis-à-vis human beings," Evans said.

Initial findings also indicated physical and vocal attractiveness appear to be related, which might be because testosterone that determines the pitch of the voice, also determines facial features such as a strong jaw line, which most women find attractive, according to a statement from Northumbria University.