NEW YORK — As the economy gets worse, more renters are falling behind and more landlords are being forced to deal with late payments. With prices up and money tight, both sides are having to get more creative. What used to be a simple talk about rent is now, in some cases, taking a more hands-on turn.

SMARTVILLE — For the eighth time, a new study has found that nerdy girls pose a destabilizing threat to the male attention span, renewing concerns that the once-harmless population of thick-framed overachievers, comic-shop regulars and occult-bookstore brainiacs may in fact represent a concentrated form of highly organized, laboratory-grade temptation.