Random Studies: Americans Prefer Cars to Walking . . . Dogs’ Tails Aren’t Useless . . . and Robot Preachers

Every now and then a study comes out that BLOWS YOUR MIND.  These are NOT those kinds of studies.

1.  A new study on global transportation preferences has discovered that Americans have a less favorable view of walking than driving.  (Shocking!)

And, among the 12 countries they looked at, Americans have the LEAST favorable attitudes towards:  Traveling by train . . . subway . . . public bus . . . and charter bus.  And they had the second-lowest opinion on taxis, only higher than France.  (It’s unclear if that includes ride shares.)

2.  An odd new study has found that dogs do NOT use their tails for movement, but they aren’t completely useless.  Researchers believe that they’re important for communication . . . both between dogs, and with humans.

3.  A report released yesterday found that men are really getting into “personal care products.”  On average, men use 11 products a day now, comparison to just six in 2004, while women use 13 products a day now, compared to 12 in 2004.

4.  If you thought we had to worry about Boomers on the staircase, they aren’t running down the steps while on their phones.

A new study out of Purdue University says that . . . among people in their 20s . . . young WOMEN are more than TWICE as likely as young MEN to get seriously hurt falling down the steps.  (???)

This elevated risk is mainly due to wearing high heels and being on phones.

5.  Humans aren’t ready to accept ROBOT PREACHERS yet.

Researchers conducted experiments where they replaced religious leaders with humanoid robots reading sermons created with artificial intelligence . . . and they found that the robots got less respect, and generated fewer donations.

But the robots’ credibility was CLOSE to humans, so it’s possible that attitudes could change.  On a scale from 1 to 5 (with 5 being most credible), the robot preachers got credibility rating of 3.1, compared with 3.5 for human preachers.