Dating Tips

Can science get you a date?

This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.

Meet Khalid Khan of the London School of Medicine. He was curious about studies on courtship. Seems we’re healthier when we’re in love!

Khan wondered: Then wouldn’t it make sense, medically, to help singles meet?

So Khan analyzed online dating studies. Because that’s how folks meet these days. Using software, he filtered almost four thousand papers. He looked for findings on successfully converting online contacts to actual dates.

He winnowed them down to about eighty studies, then pooled the data. Result? Scientifically filtered dating advice!

Foremost, the studies say, pick screen names that start with a letter from the front of the alphabet. People associate higher education and income with those letters.

Women respond most to male names that signal intelligence. Men like names that signal attractiveness. We’re thinking: “Cultured Dude!” Or: “Beautiful Betty!”

What else? Write simply, don’t lie, and choose group photos. You’ll look popular, you wacky funster!

Perhaps the biggest surprise? Use poetry.

My two cents? Don’t show your Beanie Baby collection until the second date. Long story.