By Selwyn Duke

It seems as if no news really is good news — at least if you’re a
woman. So says a study out of the University of Montreal (UM), which
found that women experienced stress after reading negative news stories
while men did not. Writes William Raillant-Clark in a UM press release:

The researchers asked 60 people divided
into four groups to read actual news stories. In order to determine
their stress levels, the researchers took samples of the participants'
saliva and analyzed them for a hormone called cortisol. Higher levels of
this bodily chemical indicate higher levels of stress. A group of men
and a group of women read "neutral" news stories, about subjects such as
the opening of a new park or the premiere of a new film, while the
[other] two gender segregated groups read negative stories, about events
such as murders or accidents.

CBS News reports on the findings, writing:

The day after the experiments, the subjects were called in and asked about what they had read.

While reading the stories alone did not
increase stress levels, the researchers found that women who read
negative news had higher stress levels after memory and intellect
experiments compared to the women who read the neutral news.

"Moreover, the women were able to
remember more of the details of the negative stories," [lead author and
Ph.D. candidate Marie-France Marin] said. "It is interesting to note
that we did not observe this phenomenon amongst the male participants."

In a case of uncanny timing….

Read the rest here.