Scientists who have won a Nobel prize live nearly two years
longer than those who were merely nominated, according to a new
study. The findings suggest that social status confers "health-
giving magic", the researchers say. Previous research has found
a link between status and health in monkeys, but it has been
difficult to investigate the link in humans because status often
brings more wealth, which improves living standards and medical
care. Andrew Oswald and Matthew Rablen, economists at Warwick
University in the UK, focused on Nobel prize winners "as an
ideal group to study as the winners could be seen as having
their status suddenly dropped on them". The researchers studied
524 men - 135 winners and 389 nominees - in the competition for
the physics and chemistry prizes between 1901 and 1950 - the
cut-off point because the full list of nominees are kept secret
for 50 years. They looked only at men to avoid differences in
life span between sexes, and because the male winners provided a
bigger sample size. L