Washington, DC, USA. As fuel and energy costs continue to soar to record highs, a growing number of states are offering more of their public employees compressed workweeks to hold down states’ energy spending and give long-distance commuters some relief from paying high gas prices.

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.(R), announcing on June 26 the most comprehensive plan in the country, ordered about 17,000 state employees to a 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. work schedule Mondays through Thursdays — a plan set to begin the first week of August and continue for at least a year. Essential services, such as highway patrols, courts, public schools and colleges, will not be affected by the changes, which are expected to save the state $3 million, Lisa Roskelley, the governor’s spokeswoman, said.

Florida, Kentucky and South Carolina already have offered optional compressed workweeks to a handful of its state employees, while a smattering of other states — Arkansas, Michigan, New Mexico, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Vermont among them — are considering expanding existing programs to more state agencies.

Utah stands alone as the only to state to make four-day workweeks

Columbia, MO, USA. Virtually anything can be the topic of scientific study, but a male researcher finds that men doing field research on women are limited to certain subjects. So says Robert M. Baum, a professor of religious studies at the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU), who has dealt with this challenging situation in the field for over 30 years.

Durham, UK. Some ardent proponents of the sexual and feminist revolutions claimed women would be free to enjoy casual sex just as men always had. Yet, women report negative feelings after one-night stands, suggesting they are not well adapted to fleeting sexual encounters. Findings from a new study appear in Human Nature.

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The morning after the night before: Affective reactions to one-night stands among mated and unmated women and men. Anne Campbell. Human Nature 19(2) 157-173. doi: 10.1007 / s12110-008-9036-2. DOI 10.1007/s12110-008-9036-2. ISSN 1045-6767 (Print); 1936-4776 (Online)