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A new study finds that when given a romantic opportunity, men are willing to take big risks to get attention from the opposite sex.

Researchers from the University of Innsbruck, Austria; John Moores University, UK; and the University of Regensburg, Germany, conducted three separate experiments on university students to measure their willingness to take risks.

While the researchers say that men have inherited this willingness to face dangers for women from our ancestors, the modern-day man is more willing to brave unprotected sex, gambling, and reckless driving all for the sake of an attractive women. Yet the researchers note that while men may perceive a benefit to the risk in the short term, the consequences can be dire.

Prior research has found that men are already more inclined to risk unprotected sex, gambling, and reckless driving than women, but the new research shows they enhance their risktaking proclivities when a romantic element was introduced, the researchers say. Meanwhile, women showed no increased desire to take unnecessary risks.

The findings, announced Monday, were published in the "Journal of Risk Research." Access: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13669877.2012.713388