Taking the pill makes women smarter

[kareface]

TAKING the contraceptive pill increases the size of parts of women's brains by about 3 per cent.

Scientists from Austria's Salzburg University took high resolution images of the brains of 14 men and 28 women, half of whom were on the pill, London's Daily Mail newspaper reports, citing Austrian research.

Several parts of the brain of women taking the pill were found to be larger than those not taking the contraceptive, including the brain's "conservation hub" and areas essential to memory and social skills.

The results were the same regardless of the brand or formulation of the contraceptive pill in question.

Dr Belinda Pletzer, of Salzburg University, said sex hormones in the pill evidently had a "tremendous effect" on the female brain.

“Larger volumes of a brain area could lead to an improvement of the functions this area is responsible for," she said. “The behavioural changes due to contraceptive use are likely to affect those skills that are already better developed in women compared to men like, for example, memory.”

Since it was approved for use in the U.S. in 1960, the pill has been the leading method of birth control, thought to have been used by more than 100 million women around the world.

The study, reported in the journal Brain Research, was the first of its kind to look at the impact of the hormonal contraceptive on the brain.

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news...-1225907021337

[Pirian]

sample size waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too small.

que that comic with science saying one thing and newspaper headline blowing it out of proportion

[Zilong]

well, the fact that they decide to take the pills does make them smarter than a good amount of bitches out there

[Kuya]

If the pill has a significant amount of sex hormones, these results should not be surprising. Since sex hormones are known to be heavily involved with brain plasticity, including in regions of the brain involved in learning and memory. If i recall correctly, at the very least with androgens such as testosterone, you can see effects such as neurogenesis, increase in vascular system (more capillaries), structural changes in neurons, etc.

[Neosutra]

So many variables not being considered.

Perhaps women who get laid more are smarter..

[bechyni]

http://zs1.smbc-comics.com/comics/20090830.gif

Just for you Pirian

[Fievel]

Ahhhhh that comic gets me everytime

[Anton]

14 men and 28 women, half of whom were on the pill,

There were men on the pill?

[Guitarman]

They know how to make me a sandwich. How much more do they need?

[Fievel]

They know how to make me a sandwich. How much more do they need?

Laundry, of course.

[wagon]

Is there anything the pill cant do? It already cures acne, rids of PMS or helps with concentration, now it increases IQ too? That's it, I am taking it too to level the playing field

[Weiing]

So basically 14 out of the 28 women in the study used some form of contraceptives...

Yeah. Too many possible spurious variables that, if the researchers did control for, should have been mentioned in the newspaper article. Possible correlation, but causation...?

[Pirian]

Just for you Pirian

<3

[Khamsin]

There were men on the pill?

I was assuming 21 of the 28 women were on the pill, and the 14 men weren't. That would fit the "half of whom were on the pill" part, since there are 42 people total and half is 21. Those 21 just happen to be all women.

[bechyni]

New study shows creampies help contribute to weight loss.

[Eggroll]

The small sample aside, something tells me that the results are simply due to smarter women being more inclined towards using the pill in the first place.

[Gredival]

The small sample aside, something tells me that the results are simply due to smarter women being more inclined towards using the pill in the first place.

This.

How many smart Harvard-bound honor students neglect birth control and end up with a kid before they are 20 vs. dumb cheerleaders/gothic emo girls with issues/Kesha party girls/liek oh my goooood aspiring actresses?

[Kuya]

Has anyone actually read the original article? More than likely, it will mention the multiple other scenarios that can explain their results and suggest further research in order to confirm their findings, by using different experiments. I really doubt that the things being suggested here are unknown to those who did the research.

[Colenzo]

lol tricking women into not getting pregnant so we can fuck them more

[Weiing]

@Kuya
Would have been nice if the articles linked to the actual research abstract at least. Can't really find it on the internet, except for other articles talking about the study. None of the articles really go into depth as to the actual study. I'd assume if the actual research mentioned controlling for spuriousness, that the articles about the study would also report it. Just... really don't know about this whole causation linkage.