CURIOUS TIMES: Trippy News from a Dysfunctional Planet

I DO, ROBOT
Great news for misanthropes! Robotics engineers predict that humans will by marrying robots and consummating those marriages within 50 years. In a thesis titled "Intimate Relationships with Artificial Partners," artificial intelligence researcher David Levy predicts that robots will become so human-like in appearance, function and personality that many people will fall in love with them, have sex with them and marry them. He goes on to predict that human-robot marriages will be legalized by the year 2050, probably in the state of Massachusetts thanks to its liberal laws and high population of techies. At first the appeal of robot marriages will be limited to a small group of freaks, says Levy “but once you have a story like 'I had sex with a robot, and it was great!' appear someplace like Cosmo magazine, I'd expect many people to jump on the bandwagon." Another AI researcher predicts sex with robots within five years, which Levy believes is a reasonable guess. In related news, last week the Japanese unveiled the a robot that gives you a facial massage, so we’re only about two feet away from the world’s first robotic happy ending... (LiveScience)

THE SMELL OF MONEY
The next time you need a lap dance make sure your dancer isn’t ovulating or you’re gonna go home with an empty wallet. New research from the University of New Mexico has discovered that strippers who are at the peak of their fertility cycle earn significantly more tips than dancers who on the pill or are in the non-fertile periods of their menstrual cycle. “This is the first evidence that oestrus, and its influence on attractiveness, has a real effect on women's earnings", said Dr. Geoffrey Miller, who speculates that ovulating women are sending out pheromones which increase their sexual attractiveness to men. Past studies have shown that women’s faces, scent and clothing are judged to be more attractive to men while the women are in oestrus. (New Scientist)

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT
Good news for a change. While it may appear that there is nothing but doom and gloom in our planet’s environmental future, a new United Nation’s report titled “State of the Future” proclaims that “people around the world are becoming healthier, wealthier, better educated, more peaceful, more connected, and they are living longer." Among the feel-good stats in the report are these: world-wide illiteracy rates have fallen by half since 1970 and now stand at an all-time low of 18%; more people live in free countries than every before; the average person born in 2025 will live 50% longer than one born in 1955; and world poverty will be cut in half between 2000 and 2015. (Wall Street Journal)

WHERE ELSE CAN YOU SEE VOODOO PENIS MENSTRUATION?
If you’re looking for a slightly different holiday destination there are plenty of strange museums in the world dedicated to the odd. Don’t miss the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices, the Museum of Menstruation, the National Lighter Museum, the American Sanitary Plumbing Museum and New Orlean’s Historic Voodoo Museum. And for the penis lovers among you, the Icelandic Phallological Museum has attempted to collect a penis specimen from every mammal which has ever lived on the island or in the surrounding oceans, and also boasts a collection of penises from animals straight out of Icelandic folklore such as elves, trolls and sea monsters. Get more info at the list of 10 Most Bizarre Museums posted at Oddee.com/item_86041.aspx

HAVE A BAD TRIP
Bad news for fans of psychoactive drugs. The Dutch government has moved to ban the sale of magic mushrooms in that country after a series of unfortunate incidents involving tourists and the funky fungi. The latest buzzkill news involved a French student who died after jumping from a building while high on magic mushrooms during a school trip to Amsterdam. "The problem with mushrooms is that their effect is unpredictable,” said the Dutch justice ministry spokesman. “It's impossible to estimate what amount will have what effect." Defenders of the shroom claim that each of the past few incidents involved tourists who had taken shrooms in combination with other, more dangerous drugs. (BBC)

WE NEED DRUG-TESTING FOR NOBEL LAUREATES
But the news about psychotropic drugs wasn’t all bad this week. It turns out that Francis Crick, the Nobel Prize-winning father of modern genetics was high on LSD when he first discovered what he called “the secret of life” -- the double-helix structure of DNA -- way back in 1953. Crick, who died a few years ago at the age of 88, admitted that he and his co-researcher, the brilliant biologist James Watson, often “used LSD in tiny amounts as a thinking tool, to liberate them from preconceptions and let their genius wander freely to new ideas.” (Hallucinogens.com)

THE WORST SIDE-EFFECT OF DRUGS? A LEPRECHAUN MIGHT STEAL YOUR PANTS
And one more from the hallucinogenic newswire: a man in Cincinnati was arrested last week after being found sleeping without any pants on in some other guy’s car. When the police questioned the man he said that he had done drugs the night before and a leprechaun had let him into the car. (Wlwt.com)

I-READ-IT-ON-THE-INTERNET-SO-IT-MUST-BE-TRUE FACT OF THE WEEK
People over the age of 50 are more than twice as likely to have sex on a first date than those under 40.

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