SCIENCE

Researcher Mark G. Thomas and colleagues published a computer-modeling analysis last month in a journal of the Royal Society that showed how native Britons could have been "culturally and genetically Germanized" in relatively short order.

"This is exactly what we see today -- a population of largely Germanic genetic origin, speaking a principally German language," Thomas said in a statement.

-- Shankar Vedantam

People Who Never Marry Have Shorter Lives, Study Finds

Here's some bad news for the confirmed bachelors and runaway brides of the world: They don't live as long as married people, especially if they never get married, according to new research.

Many studies have found that unmarried adults tend to die earlier than those who are married, but most did not differentiate between those who were separated or divorced and those who never got hitched.

In the new study, Robert M. Kaplan of the University of California at Los Angeles and Richard G. Kronick of the University of California at San Diego studied census and death certificate data collected from almost 67,000 U.S. adults between 1989 and 1997.

After taking into account age, health and several other factors likely to influence longevity, the researchers found that between 1989 and 1997, those who had been widowed were almost 40 percent more likely to die than married people living with their spouses. Those who had been divorced or separated were 27 percent more likely to have shorter lives. Those who had never been married were 58 percent more likely to die during this period. The never-married "penalty" was greater for men than women.

The findings could not be explained by a greater tendency among single people to engage in risky behaviors, the researchers found. The unmarried group was only slightly more likely to smoke, for example, and they were less likely to drink alcohol regularly. They also exercised slightly more and were less overweight.

The researchers speculated that the explanation may be related to unmarried people having fewer social connections.

"The data seem to support the hypothesis that the greater level of social isolation associated with having never married is associated with larger health consequences," the researchers wrote in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

-- Rob Stein