Science News for Writers

www.tattoo.com You gotta love today's scientists.  They study damn near anything. Such as, does getting a number of tattoos make you more or less prone to catching cold? Wow.  What a topic. The answer, according to Dr. Christopher Lynn of the University of Alabama, having a number of tattoos makes you less prone to the common cold. You might guess this because it's a normal human reaction to steer clear of heavily tattooed people making the tattoo-ee less exposed to whatever cold virus is floating around in the air. No, getting a number of tattoos helps strengthen your immune system. How cool is this? Here's the report with a link to the full study in the attribution. *  *  *  *  * Want to avoid a cold?  Try a tattoo.  Or twenty, says researcher There’s no known cure for the common cold, but receiving multiple tattoos can strengthen your immunological responses, potentially making you heartier in fighting off common i...

Credit: Jerome Koch  According to his new study, some interesting emotional correlations emerge among college- age respondents with four or more tattoos. Body modifications of all sorts are common today, from tattoos to piercings. What do these mean other than establishing control over one's own body and confirming one's individuality?   Sociologist Jerome Koch has been researching just this question for some years now, and have come to a number of interesting conclusions.  As a writer, understanding what a body mod means to the individual and what they might indicate in a larger context is useful in character development for you fiction. In addition to a link to Dr Koch's latest study, there are links below to his earlier research on the subject. *  *  *  *  * Tattoos may be a coping mechanism  for some college-age women Women with multiple tattoos report higher self-esteem than anyone else in a recent study, and es...