It's been a good week for … reading Playboy for the articles

In 1953, the legend of Playboy was born as Marilyn Monroe graced the cover of the debut edition – and provided its first nude centrefold.

Now, some 60 years on, the serpent has eaten its own tale. From next March, the women who pose for Playboy's print edition will no longer be fully disrobed.

Circulation has dwindled from a high of seven million (back in 1972) to around 800,000 today. The modern gentleman, it would seem, is getting his jollies elsewhere. And, oh, sweet irony? Playboy has become a victim of the porn culture it helped to create.

Last year, the brand eliminated nudity from its website. Traffic jumped and there was a fall in the average age of visitors. The lure among young, urban males? Investigative journalism, interviews, humour and on-trend stories about gaming.

The age old quip spouted by those rumbled flicking through Playboy's pages – "I only read it for the articles" – has become self-fulfilling reality.

Here's hoping it catches on over at The Sun's page 3 …

It's been a bad week for … God

There have long been naysayers who have doubted the existence of God, but a scientist has now come up with a theory that religion is simply an attempt to satisfy 16 basic human desires.

Professor Steven Reiss, a psychologist at Ohio State University, claims this may also help to explain why many of the world's major religions contain a raft of contradictions.

In his book, The 16 Strivings For God, Professor Reiss says that religions address all 16 of the basic human desires at once: curiosity, acceptance, family, honour, idealism, independence, order, physical activity, power, romance, saving, social contact, eating, status, tranquillity and vengeance.

He states that while everyone has these fundamental impulses, they experience them on different levels and therefore their individual motivations will be different.

His conclusion came after looking at 270 different religious beliefs and practices – surveying 100,000 people about how they embrace different goals.

At time of going to press, God was unavailable for comment.