Tag Archives: science

Why There’s Still No Cure For Cancer

Justine FieldsJune 29, 2009 //

Many of us know cancer patients who are here today and gone within a matter of weeks. The New York Times recently ran a piece with some much needed insight as to why. All the millions of dollars raised at “Walk for the Cure” and “Relays for Life” are deposited into a large pot of grant research money, and one would like to believe that the money is being given to the most advanced, inventive ideas out there that could potentially cure cancer. Unfortunately, the truth is that the dough usually goes to small research projects that are pretty much useless and will have the slightest, if any, impact on finding the cure.
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Science Tattoos: Dorky Hot Or Just Dorky?

Leonora EpsteinJune 12, 2009 //

There’s a certain appreciation to be had for a tattoo-clad man; ink can be incredibly hot and badboy-esque. (That is, assuming he’s got something serious on his body and not an, “Oh man, my buddy and I got so f-ed up in Cabo this one time, so we got these matching Chinese tats.”) Part of the appeal of a man with a tattoo is hoping its design represents inner sensitivity or pain, that he’ll one day open up about. So what if his mark is something dorky? Nerd journal Discover magazine has amassed a gallery of “science tattoos” on its website that range from chemical equations and atomic representations, to fossils and faces of Darwin.

We’re all for nerd style, and are on the fence as to whether a guy with a quantum equation tattooed on his arm is sweet…or just a good way to cheat in Physics class? [Discover Magazine] Keep reading »

The Fear Of Infertility

DivineCaroline.comFebruary 26, 2009 //

I was lying there on the cold, hard examining table. A stranger came in and before I knew it, I was uncomfortably spreading my legs. He told me it wouldn’t hurt and proceeded to stick a strange contraption up into my body. I was there to find out “if all my parts were as they should be.” Keep reading »

Head Over Heels: The Physical Effects of Falling in Love

DivineCaroline.comFebruary 24, 2009 //

I like to think of myself as a logical, control-my-own destiny kind of girl. I think most of my friends see themselves as equally levelheaded. But recently a friend was describing the physical sensations she gets when she meets someone that she really likes — butterflies, sweaty palms, quick heartbeat. No matter how hard she tries to think her way out of this silliness, she can’t. Since we’ve all been there, I figured there had to be more to it, something powerful enough to give even the most strong-willed a run for her sanity. Hoping for some insight into why these feelings take over, I went looking for the science behind lust and love. Why, physiologically speaking, do these things happen, and what are they trying to tell us? Keep reading »

Why An Attractive Voice Means A Good Mate: The Science Of Sex

DivineCaroline.comFebruary 17, 2009 //

We often think of a deep baritone voice as a sexy one, but it seems too cliché to think that a romantically-inclined crooner like Barry White would actually look the part. Yet, although most people’s voices don’t seem to strike a chord one way or the other, research has shown that a person’s voice can influence whether others find him alluring or unattractive. But once you connect the face with the voice, does the sound actually correspond to a knockout — or a letdown? Keep reading »

A Tweet From The Womb

Wendy AtterberryDecember 17, 2008 //

An NYU grad student has found a unique way to way to use Twitter. Corey Menscher, whose wife Ellen is eight months pregnant with the couple’s first baby, figured out a novel way to have Twitter notify him every time the baby kicks. For a class project, he invented a pregnancy belt he dubbed the Kickbee, made of a “stretchable band with embedded electronics and sensors” that “transmit small but detectable voltages when they are triggered by movement underneath.” The signals are then wirelessly transmitted to an accompanying Java application via Bluetooth. Keep reading »

Men: The Weaker Sex?

Susannah BreslinDecember 8, 2008 //

According to a new study, men are fast becoming the weaker sex. In recent years, some 100,000 chemicals have entered the atmosphere and are wreaking havoc upon masculinity. Apparently, “gender bender” chemicals are messing with hormones, resulting in a “feminisation of the males.” In male animals, symptoms include testicular dysfunction, smaller penises, and reproductive challenges, and some species are experiencing an uptick in hermaphrodites, among them polar bears born with male and female genitalia. These evolutionary “red flags” don’t bode well for humans: “If we are seeing problems in wildlife, we can be concerned that something similar is happening to a proportion of human males.” Some polluted countries are experiencing a surge in female births over male births, male children of women exposed to certain chemicals are exhibiting feminization, and in Rotterdam “boys whose mothers had been exposed to PCBs grew up wanting to play with dolls and tea sets rather than with traditionally male toys.” With sperm counts dropping “precipitously” around the world, women may transform from the fairer sex to the stronger one. [The Independent] Keep reading »

Has The Business Of Making Babies Gone Too Far?

Susannah BreslinDecember 1, 2008 //

In last weekend’s edition of the New York Times Magazine, Alex Kuczynski, the author of Beauty Junkies, writes about having a baby by surrogate in “Her Body, My Baby.” In her late 30s, Kuczynski couldn’t get pregnant. Over the course of several years, she tried in vitro fertilization and miscarried multiple times. Finally, she found a surrogate mother who would carry, as she puts it, “the product of my egg and my husband’s sperm.” It’s a story about the lengths a woman will go to have a baby — but it’s also a story only a wealthy woman could tell, as Kuczynksi and her financier husband spent over $100,000 to make her baby dreams come true. (The surrogate was paid $25,000 for the use of her womb.) In the article’s comments, readers are tearing Kuczynski apart, deeming her a “disgusting… spoiled brat” and a “rich, self-obsessed snob,” while far fewer others are commending her for telling her story at all. So, what do you think? Has the high-tech business of baby-making gone too far? Or is having a baby by any means necessary a 21st century fertility reality? Keep reading »

The Mother Of Invention Could Be You

SimchaJune 6, 2008 //

Still upset you didn’t win the school science fair? Well, Whirlpool is giving you a chance to come in first place as an adult. The company has just announced their 4th Annual Mother of Invention Contest for crafty women with clever product ideas. Prizes include a $20,000 grant for the winner, four runners up will get $6,000 a piece, enrollment in business boot camp, and of course some will even be awarded appliances. Past award-winning innovations include a baby bottle nipple that adjusts to fit the sizes of a variety of bottles, a plunger that stores under the hood of the toilet, a waterproof bra, and a germaphobe’s dream cleaning service for children’s toys. So while the competition is stiff, the catch is, you also have to have been through labor. But you know, mothers know best. [Start Up Spark] Keep reading »

Natural Selection: Who Should You Cheat With?

Catherine StrawnFebruary 27, 2008 //

A study published in February’s Psychological Science found that women in relationships are more likely to consider cheating with single men when they’re fertile, but they’d go after attached men when they’re not. Researchers think this might be because nature wants us to make babies, and if a man’s not as willing to get busy, he’s a waste of time. When women are not in a baby-making moment, they want someone who could nicely replace their current partner, and men who are already in relationships show that they can commit. Single women, on the other hand, don’t give a crap whether a man’s single or attached. They just wanna make out. [Nature News] Keep reading »

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