Women Who Have Just Finished Ovulating are the Best at Spotting Snakes

Now you know. Now you can be prepared -- all thanks to a study by researchers at Kyoto University. They examined the speed at which women at different stages in the menstrual cycle spotted snakes in pictures:

The fastest women were those who were in the so-called luteal phase of their menstrual cycle, or the stage that immediately follows ovulation.

The study strengthens theories that we have a "fear reflex," or an innate response to threat signals such as potentially poisonous snakes, Masataka believes. [...]

Among women, the reflex seems to be influenced by hormone levels at a stage when they could be pregnant and thus be more protective towards their foetus, the study suggests.

"It could contribute to women's ability to increase their vigilance towards biologically relevant threatening stimuli around themselves during this period of possible pregnancy," it says.

Link -via Dave Barry | Photo: Flickr user Charles & Clint