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Monday • February;
Dating success may relate to symmetry not savvy Brie:
By Brian Vastag
Special to The Battalion
In a laboratory version of “The
Dating Game,” Dr. Jeffry Simpson
is finding that how heterosexual
men go after a date depends on
how symmetrical they are.
“The more symmetrical men
are more aggressive, bolder,”
Simpson, a psychology professor
at Texas A&M University, said.
“They will tell the woman that
they are the right man to date, and
even put down their competitor.”
Conversely, men who have less
symmetry are “more accommo
dating with the woman.
“They tend to use tactics like
looking for common interests.
They aren’t such hard sells.”
Simpson starts each round of
the dating lab test by measuring
the right-left symmetry of a group
of men.
Using ankle and knuckle width,
finger length, and even earlobe size,
he comes up with a single “symme
try index” for each subject.
Then he pits a man with a high
index against one with a low index.
The unwitting subjects think
they are competing for a real date
with an attractive woman. Simp
son said this ensures that their real
dating styles emerge.
Since Simpson has only run the
test with heterosexual men, it is
unknown if other men and women
have similar symmetry-dating tac
tics differences.
So why does symmetry matter?
“The symmetrical men are
more confident. They have had
more dating success and report
having had more sexual partners,”
Wolves run wild with
remarkable recovery
IRON RIVER, Mich. (AP) — For
centuries the gray wolf thrived in
the forests of the Upper Great
Lakes, revered by aboriginal tribes
as spiritual kin.
Then came European settlers,
whose cultural heritage abounded
with fairy tales depicting wolves as
evil.
Enraged by attacks on livestock,
encouraged by government boun
ties, they nearly drove the wolf to
extinction. By 1973, only six were
believed to remain in Michigan’s
north woods.
Now the wolf is making what
biologists consider a remarkably
strong recovery, thanks to migra
tion and strict protection laws.
Equally pleasing to scientists,
many residents are welcoming the
creature back to an area where
once it was routinely shot on sight.
“It’s really an incredible story,”
said Jim Hammill, wildlife biolo
gist with the Michigan Depart
ment of Natural Resources. “They
were almost hunted and hounded
out of existence, and now they’ve
come back of their own accord.
And people are allowing them to
survive.”
A 1990 survey and public meet
ings three years later showed over
whelming support for the return of
the gray wolf, also known as the
Eastern timber wolf, the depart
ment says.
Some farmers worry that
wolves will pursue calves and
lambs if cold winters decimate the
population of their favorite prey —
whitetail deer.
“If they start harming my ani
mals, I intend to do something
about it whether I have the DNR’s
permission or not,” Chippewa
County cattle farmer Bruce
Berkompas said.
Aware of such concerns, DNR
director K.L. Cool in December ap
proved a wolf recovery plan devel
oped by a team of state and feder
al wildlife officials. Among other
things, it promises quick investi
gations of suspected livestock kills.
Simpson said.
Symmetrical men may be more
confident and have more dating
u
The symmetrical
men are more
confident.”
Dr. Jeffry Simpson
psychology professor
success because they are per
ceived as more attractive. Re
search by University of New Mexi
co psychologist Steve Gangestad
and others supports this idea.
According to Gangestad’s stud
ies, symmetrical people are per
ceived as more attractive than
their less symmetrical counter
parts.
There are two possible reasons
for this, Gangestad said.
One is that symmetrical objects
including faces, take less time and
effort to perceive. So looking at a
symmetrical face really is easier on
the eyes. Or at least the brain.
The other possible explanation
has evolutionary roots.
“In the ancestral world, where
disease killed 30-50 percent of
people, it was important to mate
with someone who was resistant
to disease," Gangestad said.
Since healthier people are more
symmetrical than those with a his
tory of disease, Gangestad said,
finding a symmetrical mate meant
having healthier children.
Healthier children meant a bet
ter chance for survival of the
species. Survival of the species is
the goal of evolution.
So the preference for symmetry
— which meant healthier children
and a better chance for survival —
may have been hard-wired into
people over thousands of
generations.
Gangestad said that more re
search is needed before either the
ory becomes accepted.
As for Simpson’s research, do
not start measuring yourself yet,
men: it’s the relative differences in
symmetry that count.
You would have to compare
yourself to a lot of men who are
about the same age to know where
you fall on the symmetry-dating
tactics scale.
Man uncovers mammoth jaw
LAKE JACKSON (AP)—Amateur artifact hunter Bri
an Miles says he watches the ground whenever he
walks anywhere. You never know when you will find an
arrowhead or an ancient sea shell...
Or the jawbone of a 10,000-year-old woolly
mammoth.
That was the fossilized jackpot that Miles, 36, and
his dad stumbled upon during a hunt near Bay City last
Saturday.
Remains of woolly mammoths — giant prehistoric
mammals the size of elephants that roamed the earth
after the dinosaurs — are not uncommon in south
eastern Texas, said John Temple, director of volunteers
at the Museum of Natural Science in Houston.
“You don’t find them every day, but you do find
diem,” Temple said.
But the jawbone represents "the find of a life
time” for Miles, whose eyes still glow like a lottery
winner’s as he describes himself and his father
spotting artifact as it lay in a muddy creekbed, just
uncovered by recent rains.
“I guess I’d always dreamed of finding a tooth with
some bone around it,” Miles said. He added, “Some
thing so large and intact, it’s not something you find
every day.”
Miles’ father, Brad, said he and his son spent two
hours digging up the dirt around the jawbone. They
used a garden trowel and a pocket knife because they
had not expected to find something so large, he added.
Brad Miles also said that his son — for whom arti
fact hunting has been somewhere between a hobby
and an addiction since age 9 — “had to dig for a while
and then stand off and look at it.”
When they finally got it out, they broke the jaw in
half so they could lug the 80-90 pounds of wet, muddy,
deteriorating bone back to the car, which was parked a
mile and a half away.
“As you picked it up, you could feel the bones were
soft and eroding away,” Brad Miles said.
His son added, “It was like carrying a baby'.”
A few years back, Brian Miles also found several
pieces of fossilized bone and pieced them into a
woolly mammoth’s leg bone. He said he got inter
ested in artifacts as a kid when he began collecting
arrowheads.
He and his father have become so dedicated, in fact,
that they braved mud and snakes on Saturday to see
what washed up after the rains.
Ren Miles, Brian Miles’ wife, said she understands
her husband’s pastime, though she doesn’t necessarily
share it.
“1 don’t like to sit out there for too long, and I don’t
like the snakes,” she said. “ But it is really neat when you
find things.”
Brian Miles explained the attraction this way —
“You're finding something that’s been there for
thousands of years that’s never been touched,” he
said. “You’re seeing it for the first time and it’s in
perfect condition. You sit there and wonder, what
was this guy like?”
Scientists!
‘hairless’gi
WASHINGTON (AP-
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Do you have a FIRE in your BELLY
for Texas A&M?
Do 'you love the Howdy tradition?
Don’t have time for long meetings?
HOWDY WEEK
WANTS YOU
Voluteer a little time during Howdy Week
and have lots of fun!
Applications available in Koldus, due Wed. Feb 4
Call Poop at 694'6503 for more information
SAY HOWDY!
Aggie Muster ‘98
Family Host Informational
Come help share the beauty of the Aggie Spirit and the
emotion of Aggie Muster by promoting Muster awareness and by
hosting a Muster family on April 21st.
Please join us at either informational meeting in
Room 292A of the Memorial Student Center.
Tuesday February 3rd, from 5:30 - 6:45 p.m.
or
Wednesday February 4th, from 5:30 - 6:45 p.m.
In order to receive an application, you MUST attend either
informational. Doors will close at 5:35 p.m. No exceptions will be
made at that time. If you foresee a problem, please contact Lindsay
Harris or Rick Hall at the Muster desk, 862-1191, by February 4.
Mays College of Business
Spring Career Fair
Feb. 16-19
Informational Meeting
You must attend one of the two meetings:
Tuesday, Feb. 3
7:00-7:30 p.m.
Wehner 159
Wednesday, Feb.4
8:00-8:30 p.m.
Wehner 118
Career Fair Website: http:!Iwehner.tamu.edulbsc
ION
Tiffany Inbody, Editor in Chief
Helen Clancy, News Editor
Brad Graeber, Visual Arts Editor
Robert Smith, City Editor
Matt Weber, Night News Editor
Jeremy Furtick, Sports Editor
James Francis, Aggielifs
Mandy Cater, Opinion Ec
Ryan Rogers, Photo EC
Chris Huffines, Radio Pro-
Sarah Goldston, Radio Pit
Dusty Moer, Web Editor
Staff Members
City- Colleen Kavanagh, Amanda Smith, Rachel
Dawley, Stacey Becks, Stephanie Dosher, Jeremy
Magnum, Susan Atchison, Kelly Hackworth, Lyndsay
Nantz, Jennifer Wilson & Julietta Amanda Jordan.
Science - Jill Reed.
Sports - Assistant Editor: Jeff Webb; Michael
Ferguson, Chris Ferrell, Travis Harsch, Robert
Hollier, Al Lazarus, Colby Martin, Aaron Meier,
Katie Mish, Philip Peter, Jeff Schmidt & Michael
Taglienti.
Agqielife - Marium Mohiuddin, Rhonda Reinhart,
Chris Martin, Leah Templeton, Travis Hopper, April
Towery, Brandi Ballard, Travis Irby & Stephen Wells.
Opinion - Len Calloway, Adam Collette, Jesse
Czelusta, Donny Ferguson, Kendall Kelly, Caleb
McDaniel, Beverly Mireles, Manisha Parekh,
Michelle Voss, Frank Stanford S1
Night News - Joyce Bauer, JaclyiM^
Shane Elkins & Aaron Meier.
Photo - Assistant Editos: Brandort^
McKay, Greg McReynolds, Mikefnq
Francis & Jake Schrickling.
Graphics - James Palmer, ClradW
Faulkner & J.P. Beato.
Cartoonists • Ed Goodwin, John
Hoffman, Gabriel Ruenes, VictorVi sl
Nordfelt and Quatro Oakley.
Copy Editors - Leslie Stebbins, Jen''
David Johnston, Martha SidneyPi- :
Veronica Serrano.
Radio - Andrew Bailey, Jodie RaeS:
Stuart & Karina Trevino.
Web - Anita Tong & Jeremy Blown
Stewart Patton, Mickey Saloma, Joe Schumacher,
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The Office of
Latin American Pn#
and the
MSC L.T. Jordan Ins;
for International Awa'
present:
beyond what we're toll
Join us for a discussion featuring a panel led by:
The Cuban Cultural Attache
from the
Cuban Embassy in Mexico
A Tri-nation Forurr
Cuban Officio-
University Stude :
from Mexico and :
Tuesday. Feb. 3rd @ 4:00 pm — Academic West 1017 (The BushSfi
Eaily anwal is encouraged as space is limited. For more mloimalion oi to inloim us or yom special needs, please call S* 1