Men 'no less chatty than women'

The common notion that women are the more talkative sex has been dispelled by scientists in the US.

Researchers who bugged 400 students to log their chats found little difference in word count between the sexes.

The University of Arizona study, in Science, conflicts with previous US research suggesting women talk almost three times as much as men.

In the study, women spoke a daily average of 16,215 words during their waking hours, and men 15,669 words.

The researchers admit that their findings may not apply to all men as they only studied university students.