The research team studied case reports from databases, such as the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, for pedestrian injuries or fatalities from crashes involving trains or motor vehicles between 2004 and 2011. From there, cases involving headphone use were summarized.

From 2004 to 2011, 116 accident cases were reviewed in which pedestrians were reported to be wearing headphones. The analysis found that 70 percent of the 116 accidents resulted in death to the pedestrian. Science Daily reports that more than two thirds of the victims were male (68%) and under 30 years old (67%).

55 percent of the vehicles involved were trains and almost 29 percent of the vehicles reported sounding a warning horn prior to the crash. The researchers noted that distraction and sensory deprivation are the two phenomena likely to be associated with these incidents.

WebMD reports that the number of injuries corresponds to the rising popularity of iPods and other MP3 devices. Between 2004 and 2005, 16 injuries had been reported, and by 2010 to 2011, the number had jumped to 47.

Dr. Richard Lichenstein, lead study author and director of pediatric emergency medicine at the University of Maryland Medical Center, says:

“Everybody is aware of the risk of cell phones and texting in automobiles, but I see more and more teens distracted with the latest devices and headphones in their ears…Unfortunately as we make more and more enticing devices, the risk of injury from distraction and blocking out other sounds increases.”

The study is published in the journal Injury Prevention.

The Washington Post reports that those with the highest rates of unemployment had degrees in:

1. architecture (13.9%)
2. the arts (11.1%)
3. the humanities (9.4%)

Those with the lowest rates of unemployment had degrees in:

1. health (5.4%)
2. education (5.4%)
3. agriculture and natural resources ( 7%)

The report points out that business majors also have relatively low unemployment rates (7.4%), except for those who have a focus in Hospitality Management (9.1%) due to the ongoing decline in the travel and tourism industry. Engineering graduates are also faring rather well, except for Civil and Mechanical Engineers who have been impacted from the decline in manufacturing and construction.

For the most part, majors that are more closely aligned with particular occupations and industries, such as healthcare and education, tend to experience lower unemployment rates.

To read the full report, click here.

To test the paradox, the research team conducted seven studies.  In one, a group of consumers was given the choice between an iPod Touch or an iPod Touch plus a free song download. The consumers were willing to pay, on average, $108.41 for the iPod Touch but only $86.16 for the iPod Touch and the download, TIME reports. As the study authors explain, the free song download enhanced the value in the eyes of the presenter, while cheapening the perceived value in the eyes of the consumer.

According to The Globe and Mail, another study revealed that participants perceived a $750 fine for littering as a greater penalty than a $750 fine plus two hours of community service. Lead study author Kimberlee Weaver, an assistant professor of marketing at Virginia Tech, says the addition of community service softens the impact of the fine.

Coauthor Stephen Garcia explains:

 “The addition of mildly favorable information dilutes the impact of highly favorable information in the eyes of evaluators. Hence, presenters of information would be better off if they limited their presentation to their most favorable information — just as gift givers would be better off to limit their present to their most favorite gift.”

The full study can be found here.

Published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, the study followed 14,358 middle-aged men over a period of 11.4 years. The participants that were the most fit (determined based on measurements of aerobic intensity on a treadmill) had a lower overall risk of death or dying from cardiovascular disease during the follow up period.

According to TIME, the men who maintained their fitness levels from the outset of the study lowered their risk of death by up to 30 percent compared to those who became less fit. The results were even better for those who improved their fitness, lowering their risk of death by up to 44 percent. For every unit of  improvement in fitness, there was a 15 percent decrease in death from any cause and a 19 percent decrease in death due to a heart related event.

The researchers found there was no association between changes in BMI and the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, reports The Washington Post.  Participants who lost fitness over the course of the study period were found to be at increased risk of death, despite any changes in their BMI.

For those wondering if how much we weigh is dependent upon how fit we are, lead study author, Duck-Chul Lee, tells TIME:

 “When you change your body weight, you have to consider whether you become more fit or not…If you gain weight, but become more fit, then that might be okay regarding your mortality risk. We have to start considering other factors when we talk about weight change and health outcomes.”

The researchers note that further research is necessary in order to determine if these findings would apply to women and those that are obese. 90 percent of the men in this study were either of normal weight or overweight at the start of the study.

The cost of your travel plans for the Thanksgiving holiday will most likely be higher than last year. According to Orbitz Worldwide Inc, the average round trip airfare for Wednesday through Sunday to the 10 most popular destinations in the U.S. has jumped 11 percent (to $373) compared to the same period last year. Flights to New York will increase the most, rising 20 percent compared to 2010, with an average round trip price of $342.

Curious if you are heading to one of the busiest or least busy airports for the holiday? Orbitz also reviewed the top 50 airports in the U.S. based on flight bookings and found that Los Angeles International, Chicago O’Hare and Orlando International will be the three busiest airports in the country. Meanwhile, Mineta San Jose International claims the least busy title.

The price of Thanksgiving dinner is on the rise

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, the cost of a 10-person traditional Thanksgiving dinner has jumped by 13 percent since last year. That is equivalent to $5.70 for an average total of $49.20. This is the largest increase since the study began 26 years ago.

It now costs an average of $21.57 for a 16 pound turkey, $3.91 more than 2010, making it the biggest contributor to the price increase.  A gallon of whole milk was also among the biggest gainers, rising 42 cents from last year to $3.66. Thirty ounces of pumpkin pie mix also played a part, jumping 41 cents to $3.03.

The Thanksgiving news isn’t all negative! For some positivity, check out the Forbes piece Breast Cancer Fund’s Scary Thanksgiving Study Is A Turkey by STATS editor-at-large Trevor Butterworth. Harvard Medical School also discusses some of the benefits of giving thanks.

The results are based on the Longitudinal Study of American Youth, a survey of 4,000 Americans between the ages of 36 and 50.

Here are a few highlights courtesy of USA Today:

70%: Spend 40 or more hours a week working and commuting; 40% do that 50 hours or more

68%: Are currently married, and 71% have minor children at home

90%: Participated in at least one recreation or leisure activity a month; 40% engaged in two or more

33%: Are active members of a church or religious organization

7.5: Average level of happiness on a 10-point scale in which 10 is very happy.

The survey also reveals that 95 percent talk on the phone at least once a week to friends or family and 29 percent say they do so at least once a day. According to Jon Miller, director of the Longitudinal Study of American Youth, Gen X contacts friends and family more than their parents ever did.

This generation also likes to read with 72 percent reporting that they read a newspaper (print or online) at least once a week and 80 percent buying and reading a book at least once in the past year. Almost 50 percent said they read six or more books in the past year.

For more information on this survey, the full report can be viewed here.

While you were busy wringing your hands over our nation’s debt crisis this summer, Combos (the Mars, Inc. brand responsible for figuring out how to shape pretzels around a glob of process cheese) was putting finishing touches on a far more sweeping indicator of our nation’s depravity: its annual “manliness survey.”

For the third year in a row, Combos has delivered its annual manliness rankings of America’s 50 most populous metropolitan areas. Rather than keeping this gold mine of market research to themselves, Combos has gifted it to us all, along with the opaque explanation: “The Combos brand understands that Americans take great pride in their hometowns. This spurred the idea for the first formal study on the manliest cities in America.” Actually, it’s probably good to be circumspect here. Once you’re caught saying “manliness is good,” you’re only one low-brow step away from “girliness isn’t good,” and by then you’re thinking what I’m thinking: what about Rollergirls?

In the survey, weighed along with other manly characteristics like a city’s proximity to NASCAR racetracks and rodeos, and its number of western/cowboy apparel stores, were “salty snacks sales” (say that with a mouth full of cheesy pretzels). So since salty snacks are naturally manly, Combos is reporting to us where they feel the love. It is in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which ranked number one in the salty snacks sales category.

And in case you think that vapid, gender-confused marketing disguised as a survey like this would be ignored by serious media outlets, The Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch picked up PR Newswire’s coverage of the “story,” good-naturedly encouraging Nashville (the #1 rated city overall in manliness) to “flex those muscles!” Other cities commented, lamented, and navel-gazed, on their own rankings.

The echo of this ploy resonates across the digisphere, but it’s the oldest ploy in the book. All the cool people are eating Combos in their manly cities at rodeos, wearing cowboy hats! How unmanly are you, sitting there in your sushi place, on break from the job for which the wearing of flannel implies non-advancement?

So go ahead and be offended on behalf of your gender, or take this way too seriously and say: shame on the media for unabashedly covering this corporate advertising “story.”

Two groups of participants were shown 100 photos of 25 different women (of all ages and backgrounds) either wearing no makeup or one of three separate cosmetic looks – natural, professional or glamorous, ABC News reports.

The first group of participants, 149 adults, viewed the images for 250 milliseconds. In the second study, 119 participants looked at the same photos for an unlimited amount of time.

When viewed for 250 milliseconds, all three makeup looks increased ratings of attractiveness, competence, trust, and likability in comparison to the ratings of the same faces without makeup.

When the looks were examined for an unlimited amount of time, the natural and professional makeup looks increased ratings of attractiveness, competence, likability, and trust. The glamorous look was judged to be significantly more attractive and competent, equally likable, but less trustworthy than the faces not wearing makeup.

According to the study’s news release, the research reveals that, “makeup impacts both automatic, instinctual responses and conscious, deliberative judgments, causing people to make impressions based on the visual alterations caused by cosmetics and their conscious ideas about makeup users and looks.”

1 in 25 business leaders may be psychopaths

Over at TIME, STATS fellow Maia Szalavitz discusses a new study that finds 1 in 25 business leaders may be psychopaths, a rate she points out, “that’s four times greater than in the general population.” The research team studied 203 American corporate professionals who had been chosen by their respective companies to participate in a management training program.

Psychopathic traits were evaluated using a standard checklist developed by a psychopathy expert. Psychopaths are characterized as being amoral and concerned with only their own power. It is possible that psychopaths may be overrepresented in the business environment because it caters to their strengths.

Do family dinners keep teens out of trouble?

A new study shows that family dinners may help keep teenagers away from drugs and alcohol:  58 percent of U.S. teens sit down for family dinners at least five times a week. It was found that teens who spend more time with their parents at the dinner table, spend more time with their parents in general.

On the other hand, teenagers who reported infrequent family dinners also reported spending less time with their parents. These teens were more likely to have used alcohol and to have at least one friend or classmate who engages in drug abuse.

 Optimism may be in your genes

A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that optimism, self-esteem, and mastery may possibly have a genetic base rooted in the hormone oxytocin (aka the “love” hormone).

The study, which examined 326 participants, involved a survey and the analysis of genetic material in the saliva, looking for a combination of two variants, “A” and “G”.  Those with two “G’s” may be more likely to be optimistic; however, the study found the gene may also backfire. Certain combination of genes, such as one or two A’s may be associated with less optimism and more symptoms of depression.

 The traditional police lineup may need to be altered

According to new research by the American Judicature Society, the traditional police lineup may need some tweaking. The more common simultaneous lineup, when witnesses look at groups of people standing in front of them or in photos, can result in a higher amount of misidentifications. Witnesses tend to compare one person to another and decide who looks most like the suspect; a problem if the suspect is not actually included in the lineup. The researchers say a sequential lineup is more effective. In this method, a person looks at each person individually and says whether he or she is the suspect.

Both procedures had similar outcomes in identifying the suspect; however, the sequential method resulted in less misidentification. In the simultaneous lineups, a suspect was misidentified 18.1 percent of the time compared to 12.2 percent of the time when using the sequential method. The latter also produced fewer “not sure” responses from witnesses.

The study out of the University of Virginia, finds that preschoolers who watched just nine minutes of SpongeBob were “significantly impaired” in tests that measure a person’s ability to stay on task. These tests measured the child’s ability to problem solve, follow rules and remember information.

One of the study’s weaknesses was its size, only consisting of 60 four-year olds. The children were split into three groups. One group watched SpongeBob, the second watched an educational cartoon (Caillou on PBS), and the third group spent the nine minutes drawing.

The children who watched the fast-paced cartoon did not perform as well in all tasks, compared with the other two groups: 15 percent of the children who watched SpongeBob passed the problem-solving task, compared with 35 percent of those who watched the educational cartoon, and 70 percent of those who spent their time drawing.

According to MSNBC, the authors write SpongeBob may not have the same negative effects on attention in older children. They also acknowledge it is unknown how long the negative effects may last.

Dr. Dimitri Christakis, the author of a commentary accompanying the study, tells TIME:

  “Too many children watch too much TV… But it’s at least as important to figure out what they should watch. SpongeBob, for what it’s worth, isn’t even supposed to be viewed by kids between the ages of 3 to 5. That alone is a guide for parents: watch age-appropriate content.”