Blue-Eyed Drunks
Tuesday, September 7th, 2004It’s just after Labor Day, so the American presidential campaign is in full swing. And in Beslan they’re clearing away the wreckage and having multiple funerals in the new extension to the town cemetery. Time to flee for a time from mainstream news to search the odd nooks and crannies of the European press for an obscure gem.
In that vein, stories out of the category “Researchers Research the Darndest Things” are usually good for a laugh. No, this time it’s nothing like an investigation of the impact of cow flatulence on the ozone layer; rather, a team of Norwegian and American researchers have confirmed the stereotypes of Northern Europeans as binge drinkers and Southern Europeans as much better at controlling their alcohol intake. It’s all in their respective genes, you see, as Jens Ejsing writes in Denmark’s Berlingske Tidende (We Drink Because We Have Blue Eyes). (more…)
