Save the reefs by getting a sex change

[Leslie 0]

Seriously......

 

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml.../ndriver128.xml

 

> Women divers outdo men, study claims

> David Harrison

> Last Updated: 1:06am GMT 29/10/2007

>

> For years women drivers have endured jokes about map reading and

> reversing

> from men who pride themselves on their superior spatial awareness.

>

> Underwater, though, the boot ­ or flipper ­ is on the other foot.

> For women

> divers are much more aware of their surroundings than men,

> according to a

> two-year study of scuba divers.

>

> "Women have better orientation," said Mandy Shackleton, a marine

> scientist

> at Hull University's marine sciences centre. "They have a greater

> awareness

> of what is going on around them."

>

> Women were found to be calmer, less aggressive and more safety

> conscious

> than their "gung-ho, sensation-seeking" male counterparts.

>

> Men took risks and were prone to showing off. The men experienced

> "a chain

> reaction of hormones" that caused them to lose their "buoyancy

> control" more

> easily than women. The stress hormone cortisol is released first,

> followed

> by testosterone ­ the hormone linked with aggression ­ and finally,

> adrenaline. "The combination of these three results in erratic,

> dangerous

> diving," said Ms Shackleton.

>

> On an ecological level, men's "spatially unaware" behaviour is

> damaging the

> world's coral reefs. There is growing concern about the future of

> the reefs,

> which are vital habitats for thousands of fish species.

>

> Many male divers swim too close and break pieces off with their

> flippers or

> "fins". Their flippers also churn up the seabed sediment, which

> "suffocates"

> and kills the living coral.

>

> "Men should try to relax and develop good breathing techniques to

> maintain

> control and minimise damage when they go scuba diving," said Ms

> Shackleton,

> a qualified dive master, who watched 500 divers of several

> nationalities,

> including Britons, off the coast of Kenya.

>

> Nigel Forman, a professor of psychology at Middlesex University,

> said there

> was strong evidence that men had greater spatial navigational

> skills than

> women on land. However, he added: "Women tend to use local cues,

> signposts

> in their immediate vicinity, for navigation and it is possible that

> this is

> more effective underwater where even in the clearest waters

> visibility will

> not be as good as it is on land."

>

> Recreational scuba diving is increasingly popular, as the cost of

> exotic

> holidays has fallen. The industry is now worth around £2.5 billion

> globally.

> Just over 57,000 divers obtained certificates in the UK last year,

> 1,500

> more than in 2005.

>

> "Traditionally, it was seen as a masculine roughty-toughty sport,"

> said

> Carol Giles, of Padi, a worldwide certificating body with several

> bases in

> Britain. "But more women are taking it up and they now make up

> about 40 per

> cent of all scuba divers. And in my experience, they do tend to

> have a more

> careful approach than men."

>

[tjgreen 0]

Leslie, you been sniffing the formaldehyde in the lab again? Either that, or you've been studying hermaphroditic worms too long .

[Arnon_Ayal 1]

Operation is a little too drastic for me,

But at list I try to dive as much as possible with the 'correct gender'

[tdpriest 115]

Obviously should have been born a wrasse...

... or a ribbon eel. for the best of both worlds.

 

On second thoughts, I might be stuck with AutoFocus having no fingers to work the manual knob! **?$$!!

 

 

 

But which sex would you be FIRST?

 

Tim

 

B)

[Paul79UF 0]

My girl is going to love that article. She was saying the same sort of things about some of the guys we dove with recently.

[Viz'art 24]

Where is the $%#@$%&&% delete function, what, no honey this post dosn't concern you, no serious I mean it, ah darn, why you had to read this, here we go again.....