Stories tagged sex
The East German Women's Swim Team: Members share a laugh between events at the 1952 Summer Games in Helsinki.
Courtesy Mark RyanAs athletes around the world gear up for the upcoming Beijing Olympics, officials in China are setting a sex-determination laboratory to confirm the gender of some of the competitors.
Despite objections by some medical ethicists that the tests are too intrusive, suspected “female” athletes will be checked for external appearance, genes, and hormones. Particular scrutiny will be given to women who are able to find the laboratory at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital without having to stop to ask directions.
The lab is a holdover from previous Olympics when questions were raised about the gender of several “female” athletes from some Soviet Bloc countries. From then on, every woman wanting to compete in the Games had to submit to a sex-evaluation screening that required them to walk naked in front of a committee of doctors. This was replaced in 1968 with chromosome tests. Blanket testing was eliminated in 1999, and now only “suspect” women – like those who leave the toilet seat up - will be tested.
“We must be ready to take on such cases should they arise,” said Arne Ljungqvist, chairman of the IOC’s medical commission. “Sometimes, fingers are pointed at particular female athletes, and in order to protect them, we have to be able to investigate it and clarify.”
Throughout its existence the mandatory testing program has never led to a single confirmed case of males impersonating females to gain an edge in the Games. Several cases of gender suspicion arose in Atlanta in 1996 when eight women failed to pass a genetic test, but they were cleared after it was determined they all suffered from a birth defect that presented no advantage other than being able to parallel park.
Prior to the tests, there’s only been one confirmed case of a male impersonating a female in the Games. In 1936, Hermann Ratjen was forced by the Nazis to compete as Dora Ratjen in the women’s high jump during the Berlin Olympics. He confessed to the subterfuge in 1956 but only after being confronted with rumors that he had been overheard telling a teammate a joke without botching the punch line.
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Tags : Sociologists have found that Brazilians who watch soap operas, or novellas, have a significantly lower birth rate than those who do not, even after controlling for other factors. They theorize that the glamorous fictional characters in the shows have small families, and their fans, consciously or subconsciously, are following suit.
Dr. Tatiana (Dr. Olivia Judson) sizes up the situation: The males in the audience may not have been amused.
Courtesy Mark RyanYesterday, I attended a public lecture at the Evolution 2008 conference at the University of Minnesota given by Dr. Olivia Judson, an evolutionary biologist who also brings the evolutionary biology of sex to the masses via her clever book and television show "Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation". The book has been translated into over 15 languages, and the three episodes of her humorous television show completed so far (with Dr. Judson starring as her alter-ego Dr. Tatiana) have played on the Discovery Channel in Canada, Britian, Australia, and also in France to high acclaim. Evidently, the show is considered too saucy for US broadcast. (Why are we considered an "open" society?)
Dr. Olivia Judson shares a video clip: "Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation".
Courtesy Mark RyanBut really this is an excellent way of teaching the sexual aspects of evolution to the general population. I haven't read her book yet, but from what I heard at the lecture and saw in the accompanying video clip (which included those mainstays of courtship, song and dance), Dr. Tatiana keeps things on a very comprehensible level, shying away from scientific terms, and explaining things clearly and as humorously (and frankly) as possible.
Judge for yourself. After the lecture I went to YouTube and discovered a number of clips have been posted there for viewing (not by young children but if you're an American adult, you should be okay):
Dr. Tatiana clip 1
Dr. Tatiana clip 2
Dr. Tatiana clip 3 (BBC report)
Best. Research. Ever.
in Chemical Reactions, Scientific Inquiry, Forces of Nature, and Human Organism
Why, I’m feeling improved cognition and creativity already!: Now we have scientific proof -- looking at scantily-clad young women makes men smarter. And hungrier, somehow.
Courtesy Roro Fernandez
So, what’s the opposite of “the dismal science”?
A new study published in the Journal of Consumer Research finds that men, after receiving a sexual stimulus – touching lingerie or even just seeing a woman in a bikini – seek immediate gratification.
Why can’t I ever get chosen for research like this?
(The lingerie, the report is quick to point out, was “not being worn during the test.” Still – dude – awesome methodology!)
Now, what’s all this about “immediate gratification”? I mean, we’ve all seen There’s Something About Mary, right? Well, get your minds out of the gutter, people. What they mean is, aroused men are more likely to try to satisfy any appetite – food, alcohol, money, whatever is at hand. So to speak.
To which men everywhere are saying “You paid how much to figure that out?”
It all has to do with the appetite centers in the brain. Seems it’s all one big giant Id. Once it’s aroused by some stimulus, the man seeks to satisfy it any way he can.
To which women everywhere are saying, “No duh.”
Apparently, the smell of fresh baked bread has the same effect, which would explain why you see so many pie shops right next door to strip clubs.
A group of test subjects tragically misinterprets the research findings: All in the name of science, I'm sure.
Courtesy avlxyz
But, most interesting of all, we find, buried in the article, never explained, never elaborated upon, this little gem:
It wasn't that the men were simply distracted by their sexual arousal, which caused them to choose more impulsively. On the contrary, they exhibited improved cognition and creativity after exposure to sexy stimuli.
While this does not comport with the stupid pick-up lines one hears in bars every night of the week, nevertheless, there it is. I mean, this is science, right? Looking at pretty girls actually makes men smarter! Therefore, we should view beer commercials and the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, not as crass attempts to move product by appealing to hard-wired neurological instincts, but rather as a public service, a selfless effort to increase intellectual activity and creative achievement by stimulating men’s brains.
But no. That’s not what the liberal media wants you to hear. Men bad. Men can’t control urges. Men barely better than animals. So what we get are prurient headlines, lascivious photos, and sly innuendo like “seek immediate gratification,” wink wink. Why, it’s enough to…
Gutter. Out. Now!
How often?: For some lonely little penguins: "never."
Courtesy mikehippThings are about to get a little saucy in the land we call Science Buzz.
Let’s start with a little mental image to get things heated up: imagine the coldest place on Earth. On July 21, 1983, ten days after my birth, Antarctica reached the coldest temperature ever recorded on the planet: -129 degrees Fahrenheit. The eyeballs of penguins across the continent were irreparably damaged, as little tears of discomfort froze to their faces. I’m assuming.
So it’s very cold there. Very, very cold. But, despite thegenital shattering temperatures, people live in Antarctica. Research stations bring the population on the continent to about 4000 in the summer, and 1000 in the winter, and underneath all those boots, and gloves, and snowsuits, and goggles, people still think about just one thing: penguins. And when they aren’t thinking about them, they’re thinking about paleontology, or astronomy, or geology, or biology, or physics, or meteorology, or oceanography. But, when they’re done thinking about all that stuff, you just know what’s on their minds: yeah—doin’ it.
One of the summer’s last shipments to the McMurdo base station, the largest settlement in Antarctica with a summer population of over 1,000, was a year’s supply of condoms. The prophylactics, all 16,500 of them, will be distributed, free of charge, among the McMurdo staff “to avoid the potential embarrassment of having to buy them.”
So…if the winter season is about 7 months long, and the winter crew is about 200 people, and the summer crew is around, say 1,100, we’ll just average the population to about 575. About two-thirds of that population, as I understand it, is male, so, without getting into changing ratios between summer and winter seasons, we’ll say the average male population is 378.
That’s almost as far as I want to go—we could take into account the frequency of condom use, or the definition of sex, or how many people abstain altogether, or how many condoms are lost to practical jokes and craft projects, but that’s complicated. So we’ll just say that everyone who can use a condom does (safety first!), and that they will be divided up evenly: about 44 condoms per condom user. That means that one condom could be used every eight or nine days. Or 44 could be used in one day (although the sun doesn’t really set for a few months of the year, so some of those days are really long).
How about that?
It’s kind of like studying an ancient civilization, just by looking at their condoms.
The number of males being born around the world is dropping. Though still outnumbering female births, the gap is closing. No one knows why.
Phintella vittata: All upside-down and ready for love
Courtesy spiderman (Frank)Okay, maybe this isn't as titillating as a big flippered mammal trying to have its way with a bird in a tuxedo, but - hey - it's still about sex.
Scientists have determined for the first time that male jumping spiders (Phintella vittata) are using ultraviolet B (UVB) rays (medium wave) to communicate with their girlfriends and/or potential mates. The use of ultraviolet A (UVA) rays (long wave) in the animal world has been documented before but not UVB. Either way, since ultraviolet light is invisible to the human eye, this tricky technique isn't going to be much use next Saturday night at Larry's Bar and Disco.
But it seems to work as a successful mating strategy for the jumping spider. The researchers doing the study discovered that the male Phintella reflected the UVB rays from their bodies, and that the female objects of their affection were more likely to get it on with those sweet-talkers who could do so in the UVB wavelength. There is a video accompanying the source of this story but I found it neither prurient nor even revealing of the UVB ray method.
However, I did find some really great video of spider courtship behavior that’s worth watching. I’m not sure it’s the same species of jumping spider, but it doesn't matter. What's really interesting is how the audio has been amplified making spiderboy's love tango seem much more mechanical than biological.
I don't know how any of this helps those of you using Match.com or any other dating service, but if you think you need more information about ultraviolet spider love, go here.
You can also check out the journal Current Biology where the study results have been published.
Spring Break in the Pacific
Palau reef: where the party gets started
Courtesy zolas boxOver the next few days, the Palau reef in the West Pacific will experience a frenzy of activities as the reefs' coral denizens partake in their annual mating ritual. Although there won't be any of the usual Spring Break antics such as wet t-shirt or bikini contests, excessive drinking, or stupid male shenanigans, one thing there will be is lots and lots of rampant reproduction.
Just after sunset tonight, or perhaps tomorrow or maybe even the next night, billions upon billions of the coral colonies' eggs and sperm will be unleashed in cute little orange and pink packages that will rise to the surface where they'll lose their inhibitions, burst open, dance and intermingle under the moonlight, and develop into billions of coral larvae. If conditions are right the sheer number of the event's participants can sometimes form huge slicks on the surface that can be seen from space. In the end most of the spawn or larvae gets eaten before it develops fully, but since there's so many of them in the first place, it doesn't really matter.
Anyway, a few days later, any surviving coral larvae will float exhausted to the sea bottom in hopes of attaching themselves to some good solid structure where they develop into baby coral polyps, thus adding more coral to the reef, and living happily ever after. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it?
The 300 island archipelago making up the republic of Palau is located 155 miles above the equator about 550 miles east of the Philippines. The reefs in the vicinity are in good condition ecologically, but the annual spawning has attracted scientists from Great Britain, Australia, and the Philippines, who are in Palau to gather "seeding" material for other less fortunate coral reefs.
The research team won't be using spawning material from the open reefs but instead will harvest it from pieces of coral they've collected and keep in a controlled laboratory environment at the Palau International Coral Reef Center. The larvae from the experiment are then transplanted into a suitable environment conducive to reef-building.
With many of the world's coral reef environments suffering from the effects of pollution, over-fishing, and other factors, the researchers hope seeding damaged reefs with the harvested spawn from healthier ones will help restore the fragile ecosystems.
STORY SOURCE
BBC website
A European study finds that men score lower on a general intelligence test after being shown a picture of a blonde woman. The researchers say the men were responding to social stereotypes that portray blondes as less intelligent. My own field research has found that attractive women of any hair color will reduce a man to a babbling idiot.
I learned today that scienctists study and experiment women and men brain. The brains turned out to work the same in the science field. In universities men are more hired to be professors in science than women. There are more women applied than men because more women are going to school than men. Women don't usually get hired because they have different point of views, they have to leave soon because of family or bearing. In the future there will be people retiring so women might have to come into the science field because there are less men.
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