Wednesday, November 2, 2007 - The Mi :. . 10B The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, November 21, 2007 Sibling science Can the birth order of these notable Wolverines tell us anything about them? QUOTES OF THE WEEK Climate change has ushered in a whole new era of judicial review." - PATRICK PARENTEAU, Vermont Law School environmental law professor, on an appeal's court rejection of Bush's fuel-economy standards "Japan's research program is a sham. We demand that the Japanese government cancel it." - KARLI THOMAS, Greenpeace expedition leader, on how Japan justifies its whale-hunting industry by calling it research ou've probably heard it before. The oldest sib- lings are the smartest, the youngest are the most rebellious and the middle children are lost in the chaos of family life. The implications of birth order have long intrigued and fascinated us with their potential to define our lives and offer a way to blame our missteps on fate - and our par- ents. But does birth order really define behavior? According to more than one study, it does. A 1985 study by Lala Steelman of the University of South California and Brian Pow- ell of Indiana University found a positive correlation between birth order and social interaction, mean- ing the younger siblings in a fam- ily are more likely to have better social skills, which translate into outgoingness and popularity. A study published in June by two Norwegian researchers found that the oldest siblings in families tend to have higher IQ scores. Accord- ing to the study, a negative asso- ciation has been found between intelligence and birth order, mean- ing the oldest children in families tend to be the brightest, followed by the second oldest, then the third oldest and so on. Psychology Prof. Brenda Volling said the negative association has less to do with birth order than it does with the way parents raise their children. Volling said she is often ques- tioned about birth order and its effects on personality. Although research finds a correlation between intelligence and birth order, she said it's often has more to do with specific family environ- ments. She said there's no way to tell if birth order actually deter- mines personality or success in life. "There aren't any hard and fast rules," she said. "It's very contro- versial." Volling said if parents have dif- ferent attitudes toward their chil- dren - for example, if they play favorites - it can affect their chil- dren's self-esteem, regardless of whether the child is the oldest or the youngest. She said the greatest difference in sibling behavior is seen at a young age. Growing up, older chil- dren tend to have a better under- standing of the world around them and often act as leaders, teaching their younger siblings. Volling said this gap narrows as children age until it's virtually nonexistent. Bob Zajonc, a University pro- fessor emeritus who is now a pro- fessor at Stanford University, said there are certain characteristics in children that can be reliably linked to birth order. "The first-borns do better than second-borns, the second-borns do better than third-borns," he said. "These differences are small, but they're certainly consistent." So statistically, the stereotypes can mostly hold their own. But since we all know the studies can't always tell the whole story, The Statement looked at the sibling standing of a few University pro- fessors and alumni to see how the theories held up in practice. Williams was the youngest of five children, although he was raised as an only child by his aunt and uncle for several years. One of his siblings died at a young age. The others went on to have successful careers. Williams's oldest brother changed his career two or three times, staying for the longest time as a therapist and the head of three hospitals in Florida. The second oldest works in the oil industry, overseeing an offshore drilling project in the Pacific. And his sister was a psychiatric nurse before starting her own publishing firm. Williams himself attended Andrews University for his under- graduate degree, then came to the University of Michigan for his doctorate. He taught at Cornell University before returning here, where he's had an illustrious tenure. The Statement isn't sure about the IQ of his oldest brother, but we're fairly confident he doesn't have the same flair for the great books. TALKING POINTS Three things you can talk about this week: 1. Cyclone Sidr 2. "Evolutionary Controversy and a Side of Pasta" 3. Lloyd Carr's potential successor And three things you can't: 1. Lindsey Lohan's jail stint 2. White meat vs. dark meat 3. OSU Law School alum ANN COULTER went on after graduation to make a name for herself by condemning liberals everywhere. Famous for her fiery quips that leave audiences scratching their heads and won- dering if, in fact, she really did just say that, Coulter has enjoyed a very profitable career as a columnist and legal correspondent. Coulter is the youngest of three - she has two older brothers. They say that the youngest siblings also are hungriest for attention. But not even that fully explains her telling disabled Vietnam vets and Sept. 11 widows they're bringing the country down. BY THE NUMBERS Number of Hispanic names - Garcia and Rodriguez - that are now among the top 10 most common surnames in the United States Number of Hispanic last names are among the top 25 most common surnames in the nation Percentage increase during the 1990s of the number of Hispanic people living in the U.S. Source: The New York Times "We knew we could have gotten evidence to link him to the murder. But it was pretty obvious that if we did, our witness would end up dead. So we took what we could get." --DANI YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE WEEK Fem bot fatale Le Trung has been building robots as a "hobby" since he was 4. But it's doubtful that anything he's created to date is as creepy as his android, or "fembot," Aiko. The video features Trung intro- ducing the fembot he had built in his basement atthe Ontario Science Center on Nov. 10. In the video, Trung interacts with his self-created she-servant, which looks professional, but also deeply disturbing. He grabs and twists her forearm, proving Aiko's ability to feel pain. He then pro- ceeds to touch her in inappropriate places and receives a literal slap to the face from his fake woman. Not only does Aiko have sensory skills but apparently she was pro- grammed with an attitude as well. Although the video is a testa- ment to developing technology, viewers can't help feeling uneasy when Aiko says "I don't want to do this anymore." Trung says in the video that he had to prove to companies that Aiko was real by presenting her in person, but something tells us that after they see the fembot, people might not want her tobe a reality. - MOLLY TWIGG See this and other YouTube videos of the week at youtube.com/user/michigandaily fsam EL PAGNOTTA, New Jersey detective, on why police often now build cases without witnesses in gang-related criminal cases THEME PARTY SUGGESTION House hunting block party - If your two weekend prerogatives are house parties and house hunting, do yourself a favor and combine the two. Strang- ers are more likely to be receptive to you intrusively touring their homes if it's past 11:30 p.m. on Saturday night. You might be able to convince them to sign the waiver that would allow you to snag their house before the Dec.1 leasing ordinance signing date. Throwing this party? Let us know. TheStatement@umich.edu STUDY OF THE WEEK U.S. researchers clone monkey embryos American researchers extracted stem cells from cloned monkey embryos in an early stage of development last week, marking the first time cloning has been successfully used to collect stem cells from primate embryos, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported last Thursday. The breakthrough experiment, conducted by Oregon Health and Science University researchers, encourages expectations that the technique could be applied to humans, producing human embryonic stem cells that could replace unhealthy tissue in patients. The research team's leader, Shoukhrat Mitalipov, said at a press conference that he is confident the technique could be applied to humans after some adjustment. But the successful procedure was not efficient for widespread utilization. Of 304 eggs collected from 14 female monkeys, only two embryonic stem cell lines were successfully generated. - JESSICA VOSGERCHIAN