By definition, a narcissist is someone who's self-absorbed, egotistical and abundantly confident of his or her abilities. So maybe it's not surprising, especially to narcissists, that a new Ohio State University study suggests they're most likely to take charge when a group is without a leader.

"Not only did narcissists rate themselves as leaders, which you would expect, but other group members also saw them as the people who really run the group," said Amy Brunell, an assistant professor of psychology at OSU who headed the study.

Brunell and colleagues conducted three experiments in which groups of people who had previously taken personality tests were placed in situations where someone needed to take control or make important decisions. In every case, those participants deemed by researchers to have narcissistic characteristics stepped forward to take charge or make the tough decisions.

But while narcissists are more likely to become leaders, said Brunell, her research indicates they didn't perform any better than others once in charge.

Now, that's reassuring.

VERBATIM

The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.

— American chemist, activist and Nobel laureate Linus Pauling (1901-1994)

BRAIN SWEAT

We've taken three related words and changed one letter in each, creating three new words: LAUGHTER, PIECE, BROTHEL. What were the three original related words?

PRIME NUMBERS

317 — Number of aluminum cans thrown away by Americans every second

50 — Percentage of all discarded aluminum cans that are not recycled

680,000 — Weight, in tons, of aluminum cans that wind up in U.S. landfills every year

1.83 — Value, in billions of dollars, of aluminum (in the form of cans) buried each year in landfills (based on going rate of $2,700 per ton)

1:1 — Ratio of amount of aluminum dumped annually in U.S. landfills to amount produced annually from ores mined globally

Source: Patrick Atkins, Pegasus Capital Advisors; New Scientist

BRAIN SWEAT ANSWER

DAUGHTER, NIECE, BROTHER

'TRUE FACTS'

Canadian geologists say they've found the world's oldest rock: a chunk of material extracted from Nuvvuagittuq greenstone in northern Quebec. Based on measured levels of neodymium-142, they estimate the rock to be 4.28 billion years old.

The previous record holder was Canadian Acasta gneiss, dated at 4.03 billion years old.

BLOGOSPHERE

Ten blogging commandments

eauk.org/articles/blogging-ten.cfm

Last month a coalition of English evangelical church leaders gathered to discuss the alarming rise in vitriol expressed on many religious blogs. They came up with 10 "virtual commandments" intended to help people clean up their acts. Example: "You shall not steal another person's content."

Read the other nine commandments at the site.

QUIRKS OF NATURE

The African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) is found on the southwestern coast of Africa, from Namibia to South Africa. It's also called the jackass penguin because the bird's call resembles a donkey's bray.

POETRY FOR SCIENTISTS

Bacteria may seem exotic

Competing, their growth seems chaotic

A bacteriocin

Allows one strain to win

By producing an antibiotic

— Sheila B.

— A bacteriocin is an antibiotic substance produced by one strain of a particular bacterium that kills off a rival strain.

ANTHROPOLOGY 101

The Lett people of the Baltic coast believed the period between Easter and St. John's Day was best devoted to swinging. Farmers spent as much time as possible swinging from trees; the higher they swung, the higher it was thought their crops would grow.

To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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