Science at work

STUDY: SOME STAR WARS FANS HAVE SEX

New Data Confounds Conventional Wisdom

As the countdown continues to the release of 'Star Wars Episode Three: Revenge of the Sith,' a new study indicates that contrary to the conventional wisdom, a small but significant number of 'Star Wars' fans may actually have sex.

Dr. Davis Preedon, who supervised the study for the University of Minnesota, said that while sexually active 'Star Wars' fans still represent a tiny minority of the fan base, the fact that any 'Star Wars' fans at all have sex may force scientists to reevaluate their theories about this little-understood population.

'The prevailing profile of the 'Star Wars' fan as a geek who spends ten hours a day on the Internet trying to dig up details of the new film's plotline is only one piece of the puzzle,' he said. 'For every one thousand 'Star Wars' fans who meet that description, there is another one who has a girlfriend.'

Shane Losby, 27, a sexually active 'Star Wars' fan from Gary, Indiana, says he has tried for years to convince people that he has sex but 'it's really tough to get them to look past the whole 'Star Wars' thing.'

Dr. Preedon said his next research project is to test the conventional wisdom that 'Star Trek' fans do not have sex: 'We've just started the preliminary research, but so far that theory seems to be holding up.'

Elsewhere, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said that with the U.S. bogged down in Iraq, the only way to contend with the Axis of Evil will be by somehow convincing North Korea to attack Iran. "