No one is immune from soccer fever, even scientists, writes the journal Nature . "In the weeks running up to the world's biggest soccer festival, Nature has been deluged with press releases and story ideas, all aiming to show that scientists love the beautiful game too."

For example, a study published in the Journal of Finance shows that the performance of a country's national team can affect that country's stock market. Researchers from the Norwegian School of Management in Oslo concluded that, in fact, a defeat leads to a sharp decline in the market, perhaps because traders loose their enthusiasm.

But the effect only works downward; a victory does not lead to market gains, at least not immediately, perhaps because traders are too busy celebrating.

And speaking of celebrating, be careful! An examination into the causes of 150 injuries suffered by professional soccer players admitted to hospital over two seasons led Turkish experts in orthopedics to conclude, in the American Journal of Sports Medicine , that nine of the injuries were caused by celebrations after having scored a goal.