For scientists an answer to a question or solution to a problem is not true until proven so. And sometimes that means revealing what mere mortals already knew like say the fact that getting to the hospital quicker can save heart-attack victims or the seemingly far-fetched idea that exercise is good for you.
Here are a few of the most obvious findings in science.
Yes ladies hiking in stilettos takes its toll. A study in the October 2009 issue of the journal Arthritis Care & Research found that nearly 64 percent of older women who reported foot pain regularly wore high heels pumps or sandals at some point in their lives. [How High Heels Hurt (Infographic)]
Turns out pigs aren't just putting on a show when they haul butt around their muddy quarters diving into the muck. They actually like it. While mud baths keep pigs cool a review of research reported in 2011 found wallowing may also be a swine sign of well-being. While the review found the strongest reason noted in the past studies for wallowing was to keep cool the pigs kept it up through winter months.
Confirming every parent's fears about college life and many students' hopes scientists found that university students in coed housing are 2.5 times more likely to binge drink every week than undergrads in single-sex dorms.
Another whopper: Students in coed housing are also likely to have more sexual partners and watch more pornography than their peers.
The findings were detailed in 2009 in the Journal of American College Health.Sure you may say you look for a good sense of humor and a sweet disposition but deep down you have to admit a pretty face wouldn't go amiss.
Both men and women unconsciously desire a sexually attractive partner a study released in January found.
Using a high-speed word association test the researchers found that people responded faster to words linked to sexiness no matter how low they claimed to prioritize the physical. The mismatch between what we say we want and what we want may be why online dating meet-ups sometimes go astray the researchers said.
Who knew getting behind the wheel while high could be trouble? According to a study published in October in the journal Epidemiologic Reviews marijuana use increases the risk of car crashes. People who took to the road within three hours of smoking pot as well as those who tested positive for the drug were more than twice as likely as other drivers to be involved in a car crash. And that risk increased for those who smoked more frequently and those showing a higher level of the drug in their urine.
Sorry but that double cheeseburger is still not your friend. Scientists found that eating lots of saturated fat-filled red meat and highly processed and salted meats is associated with a higher risk of death.
A 2009 study of more than 500000 people found that individuals who consume more of these foods have an increased risk of death from all causes and also specifically from cancer or heart disease over a 10-year period compared with people who eat less of those meats. The findings were detailed in a paper in the March 23 issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.
For overall mortality 11 percent of deaths in men and 16 percent of deaths in women could be prevented if people decreased their red meat consumption to the amount consumed by the bottom one-fifth of subjects in the study the researchers wrote.
Think you're having a heart attack? Dial 911. Believe it or not paramedics really do save lives.
Research presented at the Acute Care Cardiac Congress in October 2012 found that only 29 percent of Turkish patients having heart attacks went to the hospital by ambulance despite the fact that this service is free in Turkey. Taking a cab or driving one's own car was slower than an ambulance ride and delayed crucial treatment the study found.
If you haven't heard by now that getting moving is good for you you might want to get with the times. Perhaps also not new news to those who enjoy a good endorphin buzz: Exercise improves mental health as well as physical.
A study published in the journal Clinical Psychological Science in September 2012 found that both the improved body image that came with exercise and the social interaction inherent in organized sports made teens less likely to suffer from mental problems such as depression anxiety or substance abuse. The study controlled for factors such as socioeconomic background age and gender.
Who'd have guessed? Bullies target kids who are unpopular and less likely to be defended by their peers a 2010 study found.
And in elementary school which this study focused on kids are only interested in what their same-sex peers think. So boys will target classmates who are not well-liked by other boys regardless of what the girls think. Same went for girl bullies. In that way the bullies could gain status by dominating other kids while also staying in the good graces of the in-group.
While the findings are a no-brainer they do paint a picture of a young yet strategic bully who goes out of his or her way to ensure success when taunting hitting making fun of and other bully behaviors.
"Bullies do it so strategically that if there is not a good program at the school nothing will change. They won't change their behavior by themselves because it gives them a lot of advantages" said lead researcher René Veenstra professor of sociology at the University of Groningen. "You really need a good program that changes the attitude of all the kids in the classroom that makes clear to children that if they want the bully to stop they all have to be part take joint action." Veenstra and colleagues detailed their findings in the March/April issue of the journal Child Development.
Drinking too much alcohol can impair decision-making. And a study out this year drove this point home: Canadian researchers reporting results that will be published in January 2011 in the journal Addiction said they ran 12 studies looking at the link between blood alcohol and the likelihood of agreeing to use a condom during sexual intercourse. The more alcohol in a person's system (yes the drunker they were) the more likely they were to throw caution to the wind and ditch safe sex. Specifically for every 0.1-milligram-per-milliliter increase in study participants' blood alcohol levels there was a 5 percent increased likelihood of having unprotected sex.