Progress Daily

The more older brothers a boy has, the more likely he is to be gay.

A Canadian study has shown that the effect is most likely due to biological rather than social factors.

Anthony Bogaert studied 944 heterosexual and homosexual men with either “biological” brothers, in this case those who share the same mother, or “non-biological” brothers, that is, adopted, step or half siblings.

Bogaert found the link between the number of older brothers and homosexuality only existed when the siblings shared the same mother.

The amount of time the individual spent being raised with older brothers did not affect their sexual orientation.

“Womb environment ‘makes men gay’,” BBC News

Americans work harder than most Europeans (an average of 1731 hours a year compared with 1440 for Germans), have less job security than ever before, and report having fewer close friends than a couple of decades ago. Studies suggest that people in certain poor countries, for instance Nigeria and Mexico, are happier than Americans.

A 2006 Pew Research Center study, “Are We Happy Yet?,” claims that 84% of Americans are either “very happy” (34%) or “pretty happy” (50%). The Harris Poll’s 2004 “feel good index” found that 95% are pleased with their homes and 91% are pleased with their social lives. The Pew polls show that nearly half (49%) of Americans with annual incomes of more than $100,000 say that they are very happy compared with just 24% of people with incomes of $30,000 or less. 43% of Americans who attend religious services once a week or more report being very happy compared with 31% who attend once a month or less and 26% of people who attend seldom or never.

45% of Republicans report being “very happy” compared with just 30% of Democrats.

“Pursuing happiness,” The Economist