Why pretty women give birth to more girls... and could lead to shortage of handsome men

Single girls have always grumbled that good-looking men are difficult to find.
But science may have just proved them right – because beautiful women are more likely to have daughters than their plainer counterparts, according to a study.
As parents tend to pass on genes that determine looks, this could result in handsome men becoming rather thin on the ground.



And it may also explain why many models have daughters who follow in their glamorous footsteps – such as Yasmin Le Bon, who is signed to the same modelling agency as daughter Amber, and Jerry Hall, whose daughters Elizabeth and Georgia Jagger have both taken to the catwalk.
Dr Satoshi Kanazawa, of the London School of Economics, analysed data from a survey of 17,000 babies born in Britain in March 1958 and tracked them throughout their lives.
At the age of seven, their attractiveness was rated by their teachers.

When they reached 45, they were asked about the gender of any children they had.
Those rated as attractive were equally likely to have a son or daughter as their first child – but the unattractive sorts were more likely to have a son.

Put another way, the beautiful women were more likely to have daughters than those who were less blessed in the looks department, the journal Reproductive Sciences will report.

A previous study of 2,000 Americans suggested that women are becoming more beautiful over the generations because attractive women have more children than plain ones – and a higher proportion of their offspring are girls.
Dr Kanazawa believes that parents tend to produce children who benefit from their own attributes.
Beauty, he says, is of more benefit to a woman than a man, and so it pays for attractive women to have daughters.
But couples blessed with strength and aggression rather than looks are better off having boys, as these characteristics are of more use to males.
However, not everyone subscribes to his theory.

Andrew Geltman, a statistician at Columbia University in the U.S., analysed People magazine’s annual 50 most beautiful people lists for 1995 to 2000.

With the featured celebrities slightly more likely to have sons that daughters, his conclusion was the opposite of Dr Kanazawa’s.
And his verdict will probably prove more popular with glamorous mothers such as Victoria Beckham – who has three sons with husband David.
This is not the first time that Kanazawa has come up with a controversial theory.

Earlier this year another of his studies made headlines when it found that men who cheat on their partners are more likely to have lower intelligence.
Dr Kanazawa explained that entering a sexually exclusive relationship is an 'evolutionarily novel' development for them.

According to his theory, intelligent people are more likely to adopt what in evolutionary terms are new practices - to become 'more evolved'.

Therefore, in the case of fidelity, men who cannot adapt and end up succumbing to temptation and cheating are likely to be more stupid.

'The theory predicts that more intelligent men are more likely to value sexual exclusivity than less intelligent men,' he explained.

'Mini-Mozart' who has passed highest exam in violin and piano becomes Britain's youngest composer...at SEVEN

When Edward Tomanek was given a toy tennis racket at three and started playing it like a violin, his parents took the hint.

Although he had just taken up piano, violin lessons were arranged as well.
Four years on, the seven-year-old is a master of both instruments, passing grade 8 exams in both.

He achieved a distinction in the violin exam in January, when he was still six, and received the top piano certificate over the summer.



When Edward Tomanek was given a toy tennis racket at three and started playing it like a violin, his parents took the hint.

Although he had just taken up piano, violin lessons were arranged as well.
Four years on, the seven-year-old is a master of both instruments, passing grade 8 exams in both.

He achieved a distinction in the violin exam in January, when he was still six, and received the top piano certificate over the summer.

Now he has started learning the organ, practising at the village church in Somersham, Cambridgeshire, where he lives with his parents, Stuart and Lyudmilla. He also loves composing his own pieces.
Curiously, Mr and Mrs Tomanek aren’t musical at all. They used to enjoy listening to classical music but had to stop as their son was always practising.
‘When he’s got a clear run he could practise for three or four hours per instrument if we left him,’ said Russian-born Mrs Tomanek, 34, a translator.
Edward, who has won a bursary to King’s College School in Cambridge, home of the world-famous King’s choristers, does at least put on a private concert for them each Sunday.

‘Chopin is one of my favourites,’ he said.‘He puts a lot of emotion into his music.’
The Tomaneks’s musical hopes for their son started on a more modest level.
‘I thought it would be nice for him to play a little bit of piano, just for his general development,’ said his mother. ‘Not very much, just nursery rhymes with one hand.
‘But within a couple of months he said “I want a violin”. He had a little toy tennis racket and he used to stand in front of the television and pretend to be playing it like a violin, so we thought we’d encourage it.’
The couple found a teacher willing to take on a three year old and within a year Edward was taking his Grade 1 exam.
‘I just thought it was because he started young and because he liked it but the teacher said that we should start considering music seriously for him,’ Mrs Tomanek said.
She and her husband, who works in IT, contacted the charity Future Talent, which agreed to cover the cost of the violin lessons to ease the financial pressure.
Its chairman Nick Robinson, who is also headmaster of King’s College School, where boarders pay £18,000 a year, offered Edward a bursary.

‘He’s a stunning player with great musical talent,’ he said. ‘He just sort of connects with the music. It’s astonishing.’
Edward’s mother added: ‘We try to be supportive but we’re not pushy. If he said to me tomorrow that he doesn’t want to play any more, I’ll say “That’s fine”.’
David Smith, from examination body the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music, said he could not say whether Edward was the youngest to pass Grade 8 exams.
‘But his two wonderful achievements are highly unusual for a student so young,’ he said.

The lips have it: Research shows men are drawn to a woman's pout more than any other facial feature

If you want to catch a man’s attention, don’t bother fluttering your eyelashes or flicking your hair. Just practise your pout.

According to a study, a woman’s lips are the most attractive part of her body. Especially if she’s wearing red lipstick.

Scientists found that in the ten seconds after meeting a lady for the first time, the average chap will spend more than half his time gazing at her mouth.




If she’s applied lipstick, he’ll find it difficult to look away, with a dash of pink holding his attention for 6.7 seconds and red keeping him fixated for 7.3 seconds.
The study, carried out by scientists at Manchester University, involved tracking the eye movements of 50 men as they were presented with images of different women.

When the women wore lipstick, the men gazed at their lips for an average of seven seconds – spending just 0.95 seconds looking at their eyes and 0.85 seconds studying their hair.

But when they went without make-up, the men tired of looking at their lips after 2.2 seconds, instead devoting 2.97 seconds to admiring their eyes and 2.77 seconds to studying their noses.

Full lips were deemed to be the most attractive feature, but the appeal of thin lips increased by more than 40 per cent once make-up had been applied.

Dr Geoff Beattie, who led the research, said: ‘This study proves that lips represent one of the most sensual aspects of a woman’s body and play a critical role in human sexual attraction. Full and red lips combined deliver the perfect pout to achieve male fixation, but women who simply wear lipstick – regardless of their lip type – secure significantly greater levels of attraction than those who do not.

‘For centuries, women have painted their lips red to enhance their appeal, with this practice dating back as far as the Ancient Egyptians who commonly used red lipstick and rouge to enhance their attractiveness.

‘The research suggests that red lips and perceived attractiveness are still inextricably linked, with red lipstick proving to be the most powerful attractor and significantly increasing visual fixation.’
Sue Leeson, marketing director of QVC, which commissioned the study, added: ‘It seems that no matter what your lips are like naturally, there is a solution for everybody.’

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HOT LIPS: THE TOP TEN

Angelina Jolie
Scarlett Johansson
Cheryl Cole
Jessica Alba
Beyonce Knowles
Halle Berry
Megan Fox
Eva Mendes
Kimberley Walsh
Nicole Scherzinger

The Great Ball of China: Six-ton Chinese 'pearl' is world's biggest... and its £88million price tag's not exactly small either

Weighing six tons and standing 5ft tall, this luminous pearl may be hard to shift physically speaking – but even with a mammoth £88million price tag it shouldn’t be too hard to find a buyer.

The stone, formed mostly of a fluorite mineral, glows green in the dark and is prized more highly than diamonds in China.
It was unearthed in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia and took its finders three years to grind the raw gem down to its pearl shape.



It has gone on show in Hainan, southern China, to attract buyers and have measurements taken for a world record bid.
It is amazing and glows a blue green in the dark,' remarked one show organiser.
'These pearls are very sought after in China, especially when they are this size.'
The luminous stones, sometimes known as a Chintamani, are a wish-fulfilling jewel within the Buddhist religion.
Fluorite is well known for the amazing colours it can give out, so much so that it has been given the nickname of 'the most colourful mineral in the world'.
Its unique properties mean that the characteristic of fluorescence, when a material emits light, is named after fluorite itself.

Scientists believe that fluorite glows in the dark because of mineral impurities in the lattice that makes up its structure, as well as exposure to radiation from the atmosphere over time. Green colours are slightly rarer than the others and may be due to the presence of rare earth ions such as manganese.

In fluorite, the visible light emitted is most commonly blue, but it can be almost any colour imaginable -like this green pearl - '.
Fluorite is also sometimes thermoluminescent - meaning it glows when heated.

Chintamani s depicted on Tibetan prayer flags and tradition maintains that one attains the Wisdom of Buddha by carrying it while reciting a prayer.
Although, such a feat might be too much of a struggle with this stone.
News of the £88m pearl follows the sale last week of the world’s most expensive diamond, which fetched £29million at a Sotheby’s auction in Geneva.
The rectangular rare pink diamond, which weighs 24.78 carats, was bought by the British billionaire jeweller Laurence Graff, 72.

Dubbed 'The King of Bling' - Mr Graff said that he had bought the gem for himself and immediately named it 'The Graff Pink'.

Right, who's next? Evil-looking giant frog pictured eating tiny rodent alive

This danger mouse met a sticky end when crossing the path of the voracious African bull frog.
The pimpled and veiny behemoth has the self-satisfied air of one who takes pleasure in eating a hearty meal, even if it is a live rodent struggling for survival.
These carnivorous amphibians have an aggressive temper, can jump 12ft and have tooth like projections called odontoids, which are said to feel like broken glass when the bellicose beasts close their jaws.



Senior Tropical House Keeper at Newquay Zoo, Dan Garrick is an expert in feeding these greedy bullfrogs.
'They are huge predatory frogs that sit and wait for animals to pass by,' said 30-year-old Dan.
'They are stimulated by movement and will lunge at pretty much anything that comes within range, including this unlucky mouse.

'The mouse will die of suffocation or even shock before digestion.
'If the prey item is too big, the frog can simply disgorge its stomach and wait it out for the next meal.
'Despite their unsavoury dining habits they are devoted parents and will guard spawn and tadpoles from predators.
'They even excavate pools to ensure their brood doesn't dry out.'
African bullfrogs, or Pyxicephalus adspersus in Latin, prey on insects, rodents, birds and are even known to become cannibalistic and overpower other frogs.
A single individual can weigh up to two kilograms, reach 24 cm long and grow a watertight cocoon to stop itself from drying out in the unforgiving African sun.
African bullfrogs are found throughout southern, central and eastern Africa and are second only in size to the almighty goliath frog from the Cameroon.

Long-lost son finds out, after 33 years apart, his mother is a bearded hermaphrodite who used to be a hit at the circus

For a 33-year-old man who was looking for his biological mother, it was the last thing he expected to find.
Following a series of back problems Kansas-based Richard Lorenc decided to find out more about his family tree.
And six weeks after asking the authorities in Kansas, he had his answer: His mother was a 62-year-old bearded hermaphrodite who performed at circuses.

Vivian Wheeler and Richard's maternal grandmother, he was informed, both suffered from hypertrichosis, or werewolf syndrome - meaning they had facial hair, even as children.
This intrigued Richard, and he was determined to find out more - and meet his long-lost mother.
And, having searched on the Internet, discovered pictures of a woman with the same name working at sideshows and circuses.
'I knew it was her as soon as I saw the picture online,' he said. 'We have a resemblance.'
He had no way to contact her, though, and he pestered a number of people who knew her in the trade, including George 'The Giant' McArthur, who at 7ft 3ins is the world's tallest sword-swallower.
Only a few weeks later Vivian happened to attend an event George was performing in, and the giant was able to tell her about her boy wanting to contact her.
A Seventh-Day Adventist, she was overjoyed and thought it a miracle.

'The Holy Spirit told me to go,' she said. 'He told me George had something to tell me that was very important.

'I hollered at him from behind, and he turned around and told me my son was looking for me.
'I told God I wanted to know if I had grandchildren and if my son was alive. Then, like snapping your fingers, his wife called me.'

Richard's wife, Jessica, contacted Vivian to check some details before he agreed to meet up with her and find out more about her life.
They met for three days in Bakersfield, California, in June and now wheelchair-bound Vivian told her son about her life.

They have had a DNA test on the popular American chat show Maury Povich to ascertain whether they are actually mother and son, and the results will be revealed on Wednesday.

'I want to share the story, and I want to know for sure if it's my son,' she said. 'Even if not, I still love him.'
As she was born with both male and female reproductive organs, her mother, who wanted a girl, instructed the doctors to remove the masculine parts.
Her father, however, was humiliated by his hairy daughter and made her work at sideshows from an early age, forcing her to send back money she earned.
When she embarked on relationships with men, she would often shave back her fluff so as not to embarrass - or undermine - them.

The father of Richard was a carnival ride operator she had met in Nebraska and took the baby away from her soon after the birth.
She desperately wanted her son back and the stress caused her to have a mental breakdown on stage.
And when Vivian's mother died in 1990, she decided to stop shaving her beard entirely - it's now 11 inches long. 'I let it grow back to be myself,' she said.

'Without my beard, I'm not me. I'm pretending to be someone I'm not.'
Meanwhile Richard moved into an orphanage before his father, Richard James Chambers Snr. regained custody of him and took him to Kansas.
When teachers at his school began to notice abuse marks on his body, he was moved to a foster home.
Aged seven he was adopted and became Richard Kevin Ryan, and when he married, he took his wife's surname, Lorenc.
'I am lucky,' he said. 'Having this life story attached to it, it's cool. It's something I would've never imagined in a million years.

'But for this story to bring attention to Vivian is something else. It's a dream come true, I know, for her.
'Whatever happens, I want to be there with her. It's a great adventure. It's an unbelievable story, and I just want to be there for the ride with her and spend time with her.'

Angry 'mommy blogger' likens enhanced pat-down search to sex assault

"She did not tell me that she was going to touch my buttocks, or reach forward to my vagina area!"

Erin Chase, a blogger and author who has become a minor celebrity though her book on frugal recipes, The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook, was screened at Dayton International Airport, Ohio, last Friday.

She was forced to leave her child in the pram and subject herself to a hands-on screening by a female officer from the Transportation Security Administration, the US federal organisation that is responsible for airport security.

"She felt along my waistline, moved behind me, then proceeded to feel both of my buttocks. She reached from behind in the middle of my buttocks towards my vagina area.

"She did not tell me that she was going to touch my buttocks, or reach forward to my vagina area.

"She then moved in front of me and touched the top and underneath portions of both of my breasts.

"She did not tell me that she was going to touch my breasts.

"She then felt around my waist. She then moved to the bottoms of my legs.

"She then felt my inner thighs and my vagina area, touching both of my labia.

"She did not tell me that she was going to touch my vagina area or my labia."

Chase said she was left stunned after the examination, which she likened to being sexually assaulted.

"I stood there holding my baby in shock. I did not move for almost a minute," she wrote.

"I stood there, an American citizen, a mom travelling with a baby with special needs formula, sexually assaulted by a government official. I began shaking and felt completely violated, abused and assaulted by the TSA agent. I shook for several hours, and woke up the next day shaking."

The new measures are part of a number of changes to airport security procedures that were rushed in after a foiled plot by Nigerian man Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab who tried to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear aboard a US flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.

Chase said she was motivated to tell her story because she did not want to remain a silent victim of excesses of government authority. She said she had spoken to TSA management at the airport and to Dayton police.

"I intend to request the TSA to arrange for counselling services to be provided to me, so I can deal with the aftermath of the sexual assault that took place," she wrote.

Her story follows the case of John Tyner, a software engineer who posted audio and video recordings of his run-in with the TSA at San Diego airport.

Tyner refused a full-body scan, a procedure that reveals an image of what's under a passenger's clothes. He also wouldn't allow a TSA screener to conduct a groin check.

A public backlash against the new security measures includes a call to boycott body scans next Wednesday, one of the busiest travel days, the day before Thanksgiving.

Doctors stunned by the twins who share the same brain, can hear each other's thoughts and see through each other's eyes

Conjoined twins Krista and Tatiana have stunned the world's medical experts by seeing through each other's eyes.
The pretty four-year-old twins have two separate bodies but share the same brain.
The girls have a conjoined thalamus, the part of the brain that sends physical sensations and motor functions to the cerebral cortex, allowing them to hear each other's thoughts and see through each other's eyes.



But it wasn't until their proud mum Felicia Simms saw them playing that she discovered that they could see through each other's eyes.
She said: 'When they are playing, one of the girls will reach over and grab something from her sister's side and know exactly where it is without possibly being able to see it.
'It's absolutely awesome to watch them sometimes because there's no way she can see the toy she is reaching for and it's just incredible.' The girls also seem to experience each other's emotions.
'If one of the girls is hurt, the other can feel it and if you discipline one the other will also cry.'

The girls, from Vernon, British Columbia, Canada,have been receiving constant medical care since they were born.

Paediatric neurosurgeon Doug Cochrane, who has looked after them from birth, confirmed they can see through each other's eyes.
He said: 'The twins are sharing signals from the other twin's visual field.
'One twin may see what the other twin does, as the brain of one of the girls receives electronic impulses from the retina of the opposite twin.'

Felicia and her childhood sweetheart, Brendan 26, were unaware their daughters were conjoined until she was five months pregnant.
She underwent an ultrasound scan which diagnosed the twins as having a condition known as Craniopagus.
Felicia said: 'The doctors told me: 'The twins are joined together. Further tests are needed, but at the moment we know they are linked in some way'.
'I felt like someone had hit me with a sledgehammer.It all seemed unreal, surreal really, like I was living in a dream and about to wake up.

'But seeing them on the ultrasound, it suddenly all became very real. Whatever happened though, I knew I was going to give them the best possible shot at life that I could.'

Incredibly rare, only eight cases have ever been documented and just three of those have survived the birth.
When the girls were born by caesarean section they weighed just six-and-a-half pounds.
The girls had separate bodies but were joined just above the ear and Krista was pumping and filtering the blood through her kidneys.
'She is basically keeping both of them alive,' Felicia says.
'Their brain is knitted together so any attempt to split it could be fatal to one or both of them.'
Felicia, who is also mum to Rosa, Christopher, and Shaylee, said she never considered a termination but says she received hate mail over the years since the twins' birth.
'They called the girls freaks,' she explains. 'The nameless letters said that I should never have had them.
'But I didn't pay them much heed. After all if they weren't prepared to give up their names, then why should I care.'

The family agrees Krista is the bossy one of the pair, while Tatiana is more laid-back and follows Krista wherever she wants to go.
Felicia said: 'Tatiana is definitely the more laid back girl.
'She does what her sister tells her most of the time, Krista is the bossy one. I call her my little bully.'