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Eyespy brings you the latest quirky medical stories from around the world

While sitting alone in a bar, how many times have you wondered why everyone else around you is so good looking? You might want to relax, as research shows that the subject of your envy is just as likely to think the same of you. When heterosexual men and women were presented with photographs of faces (Evolution and Human Behavior 2006 Oct 17, doi: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2006.08.006), men thought that the men they were shown were more attractive to women than they really were. Women thought much the same of the women. This is consistent with the predictions of “error management theory”-people make errors of judgment so as to make it least costly for them. The idea was first proposed to explain why men (every so often) misinterpret friendliness in women as a sign of sexual interest whereas women do not. For men, trying and getting rejected is better than not trying at all. Women, of course, give preference to long term security.

That cannabis has a disruptive influence on memory, despite the marketing Stürm und Drang, is well known. How this actually happens has just been discovered. The hippocampus is critical for the formation of memories, and although the frequency of firing did …