The more beer scientists drink, the less likely they are to have a paper published or cited, according to a new study by Thomas Grim, an ornithologist at Palacky University, Czech Republic.
Grim surveyed the behavior of Czech scientists and found a correlation between amount of beer consumed and papers published.
But the Czech Republic may just be an strange exception, points out a New York Times article; it beats Ireland as having the highest per capita rate of beer consumption in the world.
Or maybe, suggests ornithologist Mike Webster: “Those with poor publication records are drowning their sorrows.”
It probably doesn’t matter if you’re drinking Pabst or Vielle Bon Secours — the study didn’t mention the price of the beer making a difference.
Another study in Denmark (which ranks eighth on the beer consumption list) showed a correlation between high I.Q. and wine drinkers — and low I.Q. and beer drinkers.
Maybe Freakonomics is better read at a wine bar than a pub.
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What does any of this have to do with ornithology?
Uh, we needed a study to tell us this?
You no longer need to publish when you have an adequate supply of good beer. That’s common sense.
As far as the wine-IQ thing goes, it’s completely obvious, in America at least, that there is a strong class element to the wine-beer divide, and in a more meritocratic society like Denmark, it seems likely that IQ would be more strongly correlated with class than it is in the US (even ignoring any cultural/class biases in the IQ tests in question).
Clearly, msot people will understand that this is likely to be a case of “correlation does not equal causation,” but surely there are some (possibly fun) theories to be had as to why it’s true. Mine would be that getting papers published requires, on average, a more-miserable, less-social lifestyle, so the happy beer-drinkers are less likely to overlap with the frequently-published.
what about a correlation to income. i would suspect that rich people drink wine and poor people drink beer. how likely is it that income correlates more strongly to IQ more than alcohol preference.
Clearly nobody here has met a geologist… we drink beer like water, and publish like there’s no tomorrow.
Do we know anything about the quality of papers published by beer drinkers and non-drinkers?
Hmm. Drinking beer through a straw … and using a book as a coaster. Two cardinal sins in one photo!