Yo, Word Up, Arabz

The widespread use of oral contraceptives by women has increased educational levels of men as well as women, says economist Heinrich Hock of Florida State University.

Hock examined education data collected by states during the 1960s and 1970s when the Pill became widely used. By comparing how much formal schooling women had in states that denied or severely limited access to the Pill with women in states with more relaxed rules, he could estimate the impact of the Pill on schooling.

Hock found that "unconstrained access to the pill increased the enrollment rate of college-age women by almost 5 percentage points."

The surprise came when he looked at college completion rates among young men during the same time period. Guys, too, indirectly benefited from the Pill because it allowed them to complete their educations rather than have to drop out and get a job to support a baby. Overall, their college completion rates rose by about three percentage points during the same time period, controlling for other factors known to be associated with completing college.

The Lonely Gene

If you're feeling lonely, perhaps you should blame your genes.

That's what scientists at the University of Chicago and in the Netherlands found when they studied sets of twins to see whether there is a genetic predisposition to loneliness.

There is. The researchers found that about 50 percent of identical twins and 25 percent of fraternal twins shared similar characteristics of loneliness. That's powerful evidence that feeling lonely can be inherited, because twins raised together share similar environmental influences as well as similar genes. That makes it easier to determine the role genes play, University of Chicago psychologist John Cacioppo says in the latest issue of the journal Behavioral Genetics.

Who Would Have Thought?Red Rooms, Tattoos and Celeb Autographs

· "Effect of color schemes and environmental sensitivity on job satisfaction and perceived performance," by Nancy Kwallek et al in Perception and Motor Skills, Vol. 101, No. 2. A University of Texas architecture professor and her colleagues find employees are happier and think they work harder in rooms where the walls are painted white or blue-green than in rooms painted red.

· "College Students, Tattoos, and Sexual Activity," by Jerome R. Koch et al. Psychological Reports, Vol. 97, No. 3. Data gathered from 450 college students by two Texas Tech University researchers suggest that virtually all tattooed students had sex at least once in their lives, compared with fewer than three-quarters of students without tattoos. Tattooed men became sexually active, on average, 18 months earlier than non-tattooed men, while tattooed women did so, on average, five months earlier than non-tattooed women.

· "Rising Stars, Superstars and Dying Stars: Hedonic Explorations of Autograph Prices," by Martin Snell et al. Paper to be presented at the Canadian Economics Association's annual meeting next month in Montreal. A University of Portsmouth economist and his colleagues studied the catalogue of the leading British autograph dealer and found that signatures of dead celebrities and sports stars are worth twice as much as those from living personalities, movie stars are valued more than TV stars, and autographs of dead artists and writers are valued most of all.