Science provides us with some important breakthroughs -- the so-called 'God Particle', the discovery of penicillin and that the Earth isn't flat -- and sometimes it doesn't.
This is perhaps a story about the latter.
Could there be a link between the sexiness of politicians and the health of the electorate?
Probably not, at least according to new research from Sweden.
Researchers from the Karolinska Institutet compared life expectancy, infant mortality and self-rated health of voters to the sexiness ratings of around 500 UK politicians as voted by on a Hot or Not-style website.
The results were published in The Royal Society today.
It contradicts an earlier study which suggested a politician's attractiveness is more important for electoral success when disease threat is high.
The disease avoidance theory says people will tend to prefer the company of healthy and attractive humans in times of increased disease threat.
Dr Gustav Nilsonne, who led the study, attempted to recreate previous findings in the UK, but found "hardly any correlation" between disease burden in constituencies and how hot parliamentarians were.
He suggests the phenomenon only exists in some cultures or the original finding was a one-off.
Newshub.
