The votes have been flowing in (seriously, it’s been a banner year for the Sexy Vegetarian Next Door contest), and we’re down to the top two chicks and the top two dudes. There are still two more days to cast your vote for the winner, so click one of the finalists below to hit up the voting page and crown one of these attractive herbivores North America’s Sexiest Vegetarian Next Door.

In related news, I’d like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt appreciation to all the people who have been writing me in to win this contest.* Sadly, PETA’s employees are ineligible, so those votes will not be counted, but I’m truly humbled by this outpouring of support.

*Technically, nobody has actually done this yet.

The 2008 Sexiest Vegetarian Next Door contest is underway, and this year we’re doing things a bit differently. To spice things up a bit, we’ve pitted the nominees against each other in a bracket-style tournament, where the winner takes all. (“All,” in this case, being a free trip to Hawaii.) You can check out the smoking hot lineup of sexy vegetarian guys and gals here. Happy voting!

Even if the cruelty of factory farming, the increased heart attack and cancer risk, and the environmental devastation caused by the meat industry don't convince you to go vegetarian, I'm certain that the prospect of being the sexiest smelling person in your office will sway you. According to a recent study published by the NIH,

Results of repeated measures analysis of variance showed that the odor of donors when on the nonmeat diet was judged as significantly more attractive, more pleasant, and less intense.

Hott! Scientists sure do know how to make stuff sound sexy when they want to. Unfortunately for me, my fragrant vegan odor doesn't have much effect on my female colleagues, since (as you might expect) pretty much all of the dudes in my office are rocking a nonmeat diet. But if you're looking for a way to make yourself stand out from the competition with the dreaded Valentine's Day holiday looming, it may be worth a shot. Just so I've got my bases covered—for those of you who are already vegetarian but still smell kind of funky, you can find a whole range of cruelty-free deodorants here.

Going vegetarian, that is. A friend of mine from Cleveland sent me this news clip about teenage vegetarians, and it made my morning. Working for PETA, of course I hear stories all the time about the growth of vegetarianism among kids, particularly teenagers, and the folks at peta2 can hardly keep up with their growth—how about zero to 800,000 peta2 e-news subscribers in four years? But it was nice to see the media taking notice of what we’ve known for years . . .

Anyway, enjoy the clip:

The BBC just reported on a study by Southampton University scientists which showed that individuals who were vegetarian by the age of 30 recorded an average of five IQ points higher than meat-eaters. The initial IQ tests were performed in the '70s, and the results of the study (after adjusting for social and economic factors) demonstrated that the intelligent children were significantly more likely to become vegetarian later in life. Researchers have hailed this study as a compelling explanation for why "higher IQ in childhood or adolescence is linked with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease in adult life."

Incidentally, the study also showed that vegetarians were more likely to be female, which may be evidence that girls are smarter than boys. But I don't really need to think about that.