Is this science or science fiction? That thought came to mind when I read that traders who were exposed to more testosterone in the womb made six times more money than their low-testosterone-level peers on very volatile trading days. So if you want to breed a trader, expose him to lots of testosterone in the womb. How do you do that? Beats me.

To determine the traders' prenatal testosterone exposure, University of Minnesota researchers measured their "2D:4D ratio" which is the relative lengths of the index and ring fingers on the right hand. Those exposed to higher levels of testosterone in the womb tend to have relatively longer ring fingers.

Based on the 2D:4D measure, researchers who studied the traders' profits over a 20-month period between 2004 and 2007, found that those with the highest in-womb testosterone exposure in the womb earned six times more than those exposed to the least. They also tended to have the longest careers, surviving about three years longer on average.

Testosterone, the reason that men are so lame, has an important effect on stock traders, according to researchers at The University of Cambridge.

The study found that while testosterone can be helpful in the short term for some, it can also lead to over-confidence and unchecked risk-taking. Stan O'Neal and Brian Hunter, say hi.

One of the authors of the study says that, "If people want to get practical, it would be good for both banks and the financial system as a whole if we had more women and older men in the markets."

At least one legendary trader is allegedly on to this. A lawsuit filed by a former junior trader at Steven Cohen's SAC Capital alleged that his boss made him take female hormone pills to curb his aggressiveness and make him a better trader. (For more on that bizarre case, check out my post from October.)

This is one of those bizarre stories that makes the New York Post worth subscribing to: A junior trader at Steven Cohen's legendary SAC Capital has alleged in a lawsuit that Ping Jiang, one of Cohen's top bosses, required some traders to swallow female hormone pills to curb their aggressiveness and make them better traders.

The trader claims that the hormones eventually induced him to start wearing women's clothing, avoid his wife, and begin a sexual relationship with his boss. According to The Post, "Details of the case, disclosed yesterday by Charlie Gasparino on CNBC, claimed that the boss bragged he had developed a successful trading method based on being effeminate and that other traders ought to start using it, too."

Seizing on the opportunity, Richard Simmons and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's 'Fab Five' are reportedly teaming up to launch a managed futures fund.

But on a slightly more serious note, there is a growing body of research suggesting that excessive-testosterone has been responsible for some of business's great blunders. For more on that, check out Testosterone Inc.: Tales of CEO's Gone Wild.

Stephan Mara, a NYSE floor broker whose family owns part of the New York Giants, was suspended for two weeks following an outburst of unbridled testosterone-fueled rage.

According (subscription required) to The Wall Street Journal, "His infraction: pinning another broker to a trading post for several seconds in December after the victim chided him after a Giants loss."

Classy. You have to wonder about the role that testosterone plays in business, and whether it has a negative influence. In his interesting book Testosterone Inc.: Tales of CEOs Gone Wild, Christopher Byron makes the case that Jack Welch, Dennis Kozlowski, Ronald Perelman and Al Dunlap weren't really bad people: Just victims of their own excessive testosterone.

Perhaps Mr. Mara could have plead temporary insanity and called in Byron as an expert witness. How else do you explain pinning someone to a trading post over a football score?

World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE: WWE) issued a statement that sheds no light on why Chris Benoit murdered his wife and son before killing himself. The statement suggests that in Benoit's last drug test in April 2007, he tested negative for anabolic steroids and testosterone. And that today's toxicology report suggests he took testosterone after the April 2007 drug test.

This statement is at odds with an AP report which claims that Benoit's body contained 10 times the normal level of testosterone, as well as the anti-anxiety drug Xanax and the painkiller hydrocodone. The testosterone, a synthetic version of the primary male sex hormone, is considered an anabolic steroid.

This statement raises more questions than it answers: