Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Is beer holding you back?

Weird beer news from The New York Times: a Czech ornithologist has published a study that says scientists who drink more beer publish fewer papers.

Seems a little obvious at first: anyone who's spending too much time with pint glasses might not be spending enough time with test tubes. But the study seems to indicate that even scientists who drink just a few times a year are less productive than those who drink none. The study purports to study the interaction between social activity and scientific publication productivity. Beer drinking stands in as a measure of sociability.

I suppose I might be more productive at work if I quit drinking. But I do suspect my beer column would suffer.