The movies included You've Got Mail, Maid In Manhattan, The Wedding Planner and While You Were Sleeping.

The university's Dr Bjarne Holmes said: "Marriage counsellors often see couples who believe that sex should always be perfect, and if someone is meant to be with you then they will know what you want without you needing to communicate it.

"We now have some emerging evidence that suggests popular media play a role in perpetuating these ideas in people's minds.

"The problem is that while most of us know that the idea of a perfect relationship is unrealistic, some of us are still more influenced by media portrayals than we realise."

Its authors—Mark D. Prokosch, Richard G. Coss, Joanna E. Scheib, and Shelley A. Blozis, from the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Davis-state in the abstract to their paper that, "Selecting a more intelligent mate often provides women with better access to resources and parental investment for offspring."

However, humans may have also evolved so that women look for intelligence in men in order to produce children that are physically superior-and, thus, use intelligence as a way to unconsciously determine the overall quality of her mate.

The California researchers studied the role of male intelligence with respect to the short-term and long-term preferences of women.

The research team analysed how the contraceptive pill affects odour preferences. One hundred women were asked to indicate their preferences on six male body odour samples, drawn from 97 volunteer samples, before and after initiating contraceptive pill use.

Craig Roberts, a Lecturer in Evolutionary Psychology who carried out the work in collaboration with the University of Newcastle, said: "The results showed that the preferences of women who began using the contraceptive pill shifted towards men with genetically similar odours.

"Not only could MHC-similarity in couples lead to fertility problems but it could ultimately lead to the breakdown of relationships when women stop using the contraceptive pill, as odour perception plays a significant role in maintaining attraction to partners."

Men with the 334 version of the AVPR1A gene earned lower scores from their partner/wife for strength of relationship bond. They were also less likely to be married.

If they were married, they were more likely to have experienced marital problems.

Having two copies of 334 doubled the chances that men would report having had a marital crisis in the past year.

It is thought that the gene, which was carried by 40% of the men, may affect the way the brain uses vasopressin.

The same gene has been linked with autism - a condition characterised by problems with social interaction.

Blind dating, random dating or speed dating - that's enough beating around the bush. According to a Switzerland-based biotech organization, people need online dating to get concrete and scientific answers.

The organization in question, GenePartner has announced a DNA-matching service and is looking to partner with dating sites. GenePartner will use a $199 DNA test, the cheapest on the web, for determining compatibility of prospective partners for a long-lasting relationship.

The company has derived the algorithm after analyzing "hundreds of couples". GenePartner will use a buccal swab kit to collect the DNA sample from the saliva of its members for DNA analysis. Alternatively, a GenePartner user can enter their GenePartnerID.

At GenePartner we are dedicated to help you find your ideal life partner. Our formula is based on research on hundreds of couples and analyzes the pattern of genetic combinations found in successful relationships. Using this formula we will determine the probability for a satisfying and long-lasting romantic relationship between two people.

This probability is highest when two people are genetically compatible.

The latest research, published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, was carried out the Dr Emmanuele Jannini at the University of L'Aquila, and involved just 20 women.

Ultrasound was used to measure the size and shape of the tissue beyond the "front" wall of the vagina, often suggested as the location of the G spot.

In the nine women who reported being able to achieve vaginal orgasm, the tissues between the vagina and the urethra - which carries urine out of the body - were on average thicker than in the 11 women who could not reach orgasm this way.

However, Dr Tim Spector, from St Thomas' Hospital in London, told New Scientist that the thicker tissue might actually be part of the clitoris - another extremely sensitive area.

Another suggestion was that, rather than being the cause of more orgasms, having these frequently might actually lead to better-developed musculature in this area.

The study, published in the Aug. 29 issue of PLoS ONE, notes that while women often lose their reproductive capacity around age 50, men can often remain productive into their 70s. From an evolutionary perspective, women who can no longer reproduce are non-players, and since "it takes two," men partnered with menopausal women are also irrelevant.

More interesting, when old men father children, their genes seem to increase the lifespan of both sexes over evolutionary time.

Thus, Charles Darwin would say it's advantageous for males to live longer lives providing they can find a woman capable of reproducing. Natural selection should favor longevity-boosting genes, which would get passed down from fathers to both sons and daughters. So women would benefit as well in future generations, the scientists say.

"By increasing the survival of men you have a spillover effect on women because men pass their genes to children of both sexes," said study team member Cedric Puleston, a doctoral candidate at Stanford University.

Physical reasons such as to reduce stress ("It seemed like good exercise"), feel pleasure ("It's exciting"), improve or expand experiences ("I was curious about sex"), and the physical desirability of their partner ("The person was a good dancer").

Goal-based reasons, including utilitarian or practical considerations ("I wanted to have a baby"), social status ("I wanted to be popular") and revenge ("I wanted to give someone else a sexually transmitted disease").

Emotional reasons such as love and commitment ("I wanted to feel connected") and expression ("I wanted to say 'thank you'").

Insecurity-based reasons, including self-esteem ("I wanted the attention"), a feeling of duty or pressure ("My partner kept insisting") and to guard a mate ("I wanted to keep my partner from straying").

Four percent of US adults have never had sex in their lives, and the figure climbs to 12 percent in the case of Mexican-Americans, according to an official survey out on Friday.

"Approximately 96 percent of adults age 20-59 years have had sex, with the age group 20-29 having the lowest percent (91 percent)," the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a report.

Eighty-eight percent of Mexican-American adults have had sex, a lower percentage than any other ethnic group.

The report also said 16 percent of adults first had sex before the age of 15, while 15 percent abstained from sex until age 21 or older.

You see someone across a crowded room... and your heart flutters. Sure, to a certain extent, it's because you like what you see. But while we might think we have a mind of our own when judging how attractive someone is, a new study reveals that women are heavily influenced by the opinions of others.

To study this phenomenon, researchers at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland had female partners choose the more handsome out of pairs of male faces (the photos had been previously rated as being of equal attractiveness). Then, participants were shown a picture sequence in which each face was being looked at by another woman who was either smiling or appearing bored. When the initial test was repeated, the participants were more attracted to the faces that had been smiled at by others. This is called "mate choice copying" and is seen in many animal species such as guppies and finches.

The moral of the story: Ladies, the next time you go out on the town and your friend says, "Ooh, he's cute!" or "I don't know what you see in that guy," take your pal's opinion with a grain of salt and try to tune into your own instincts. Otherwise, you might end up pursuing - or missing - a match who's right for you.