Craig Kingsley and Kelly Lambert, whose research lead to Katherine Ellison's 2005 book The Mommy Brain, are studying fatherhood in both humans and other animals. They found that when male deer mice are exposed to baby deer mice (even if the babies aren't theirs), motivation and problem-solving areas of their brains grow. Male titi monkeys, which made for life and help care for babies, also experience such changes. In men, the researchers found that levels of prolactin — a hormone that in women influences lactation and in men may increase responsiveness to a baby's cry — increased after the birth of a child. Testosterone, which influences mate seeking and aggression, correspondingly decreased.

However, Michale Lewis's claim that he didn't love his children initially may not be so unusual. Susan Kuchinskas, writing about Kingsley and Lambert's research for Miller-McCune, says, "fatherly love may take time to grow. After all, mom's body and brain have enjoyed a nine-months-long stew of hormones to prepare her for this role, while the overhaul of dad's brain seems to begin only at the appearance of the child."

Kingsley and Lambert's findings suggest a model of parenthood that is different from the essentialist mommy-as-natural-nurturer, daddy-as-natural-dumbass stereotypes promulgated by traditional-family types. Their research indicates that childrearing, for both men and women, is a physical process, and that contact with children actually makes parents better at taking care of them. Kuchinskas writes,

To maximize the physical changes that support parenting, the best thing a prospective father can do is take an active role in birth preparations and be physically close to his partner and their child when the baby is born, snuggling close and inhaling that unique baby smell. Research by Jay Fagan, a professor of social work at Temple University, shows that fathers who get involved in pregnancy seem more committed to their partner and the child after it's born.

Lewis writes about the strangeness of being expected to change diapers, when his dad "didn't talk to him til he was 21." But all those dirty diapers — and the physical closeness that came with them — may have made him a better dad.

Benefits of the Daddy Brain [Miller-McCune]
Fatherhood Is Good for Your Brain [Utne Reader]

Earlier: Michael Lewis Says Dads Suck At Chores, Emotional Attachment

In his blog, The White Coat Underground, internist PalMD takes Oprah to task for her claim that, "homeopathy treatment is similar to how a vaccination or immunization works." He counters, "You can measure the antibody response provoked by a vaccine. You cannot measure anything provoked by homeopathy because the only think homeopathy produces is a bill." To Oprah's admission that, "there are different theories behind homeopathy. But lack of convincing evidence is a big concern with homeopathy's acceptance by conventional medical doctors," PalMD responds,

No! Homeopathy's "lack of convincing evidence" is not some problem we uptight "conventional doctors" have—-it is the fundamental problem (along with the absurdity of it) with homeopathy. It has not been shown to work. This is rather important in medicine.

Newsweek's critique is more far-reaching. Writers Weston Kosova and Pat Wingert call Oprah out for her embrace of Suzanne Somers's potentially dangerous "biodentical" hormone regimen, Jenny McCarthy's potentially dangerous argument that vaccines cause autism, and Rhonda Byrne's The Secret, which is potentially dangerous if you, like Oprah's guest Kim Tinkham, take it to mean that you should use positive thinking instead of actual medicine to cure your illnesses. Oprah is in a unique position, they write:

Her most ardent fans regard her as an oracle. If she mentions the title of a book, it goes to No. 1. If she says she uses a particular wrinkle cream, it sells out. At Oprah's retail store in Chicago, women can purchase used shoes and outfits that she wore on the show. Her viewers follow her guidance because they like and admire her, sure. But also because they believe that Oprah, with her billions and her Rolodex of experts, doesn't have to settle for second best. If she says something is good, it must be.

Oprah told ET Online that "I trust the viewers, and I know that they are smart and discerning enough to seek out medical opinions to determine what may be best for them." And in a longer statement released to Newsweek, she said,

The guests we feature often share their first-person stories in an effort to inform the audience and put a human face on topics relevant to them. I've been saying for years that people are responsible for their actions and their own well-being. I believe my viewers understand the medical information presented on the show is just that-information-not an endorsement or prescription. Rather, my intention is for our viewers to take the information and engage in a dialogue with their medical practitioners about what may be right for them.

But the truth is, many do look to Oprah as an oracle. She had far too much power to pretend that her excitement over certain treatments ("After one day on bioidentical estrogen, I felt the veil lift," she wrote in her magazine) is just more information or people to consider. Oprah's opinion is persuasive to many people, more persuasive, perhaps, than the advice of their own doctors, and she has a responsibility not to recommend that her viewers sacrifice their money and possibly their health for treatments that have no scientific basis.

Kosova and Wingert say Oprah hasn't given equal weight to critics of Somers or McCarthy's positions. She read a statement by the CDC denying the link between vaccines and autism but then allowed McCarthy to conclude the segment. McCarthy said, "my science is named Evan, and he's at home. That's my science."

Health is unpredictable and scary, and it's natural to want to rely on "my science," to crave a certain feeling of control. Oprah offers that control, telling viewers, "we have the right to demand a better quality of life for ourselves. And that's what doctors have got to learn to start respecting." But this control is an illusion. We can't demand better health from our doctors, from supplements, or from the universe. At some point, we have to take what comes our way. Oprah's message of "living your best life" has been helpful to many people, but sometimes your best life comes from accepting your lot, and looking at your options with a clear, critical eye.

Live Your Best Life Ever! [Newsweek]
Oprah's Website Of Woo—-Can It Change? [ScienceBlogs]
Oprah Responds To Newsweek Report [ETOnline]

He says:

As my wife and I sat on the couch one night this past winter, reading and half-watching the inevitable HGTV, I started sweating hard and my face got so fevered and flushed that I felt as if I were peering into an oven.

I turned to Deb and said, "Man, I'm having a wicked hot flash." And she said, "Me, too." Then we laughed. You laugh a lot - unless your hormones are making you cry - when you're having menopause with your wife.

But Jennings discovered that the side effects of the loss of hormones were no laughing matter. In addition to intense hot flashes, he had intense food cravings, weight gain, headaches, fatigue and mood swings that he describes thusly:

The tears would usually pour down when I got ambushed by some old tune: "Sweet Baby James" and "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor, "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" by Carly Simon and, yes, "It's My Party" by Lesley Gore. Not only was I temporarily menopausal, but it appeared that I was also turning into a teenage girl from the early 1970s.

Jennings uses his experience to call on men to be more understanding of the mood swings of their partners, which he found himself unable to control.

But it's amusing that Jennings' trip into "womanhood," so to speak, was precipitated not by the addition of female sex hormones but by the subtraction of testosterone. In fact, it makes me wonder what adding estrogen and progesterone might have done to Jennings, or, more comically, what adding testosterone could do to me.

For instance, testosterone has been tested and is used in Europe to restore sex drive to post-menopausal women. Given my sex drive, that could get a bit... hard to handle, even if I had a long-term partner around. If testosterone does cause people to be more aggressive, well, I think I have published enough rants in my time to indicate that could get problematic. But if it would stop me from crying when I'm PMSing? Sign me up.

My Brief Life As A Woman [NY Times]

Related: Testosterone Patch May Kick-Start Sex Drive In Women [CNN]

Earlier: What Constitutes A Dry Spell?

Five to 15% of women have excess hair, a condition known as hirsutism, and in 70 to 80 percent of cases polycystic ovary syndrome is to blame. If untreated the condition can cause major fertility problems. Excess hairiness may also by a symptom of certain tumors and thyroid dysfunction. Cosmetic concerns can cause psychological problems too. "The effect that excess hair can have on a woman's self-esteem and how she views herself as a woman - and therefore her quality of life - can be extremely distressing," says Rachel Hawkes, chairwoman of Verity, a polycystic ovary syndrome charity. Mild cases may be treated cosmetically, but in moderate to severe cases hormone therapy may be needed to eliminate the hair. [BBC]

[Image via Cedars-Sinai.]

The Wall Street Journal reports that 210,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer every year before 2002, but that number dropped to less than 190,000 each year and stayed low through 2005. Some doctors speculated that the drop was due to wide-scale abandonment of postmenopausal hormones after the National Institutes of Health warned in July 2002 that long term use of the drug Prempro, which contained estrogen and progestin, increased the risk of breast cancer, heart and stroke. Other doctors said stopping hormone treatment would not cause such a sudden drop and said it was due to a decline in screening.

A new study published today in The New England Journal of Medicine supports the claim that women abandoning hormone therapy caused the drop-off. USA Today reports that breast cancer risk declines falls markedly within two years of quitting HRT treatment. "It looks like after a couple of years a woman is pretty much back to normal," says Rowan Chlebowski, lead author of the study. "That's very encouraging." The new research analyzed data from the Women's Health Initiative, a landmark federal study, that assigned 16,000 postmenopausal women to take Prempro or a placebo. In 2002 the women stopped taking the drug and the new analysis found that the women's breast cancer risk fell rapidly in the next two years, even though their screening mammogram rate didn't change.

A related study was published last month in the journal Cancer that also found that users of estrogen and progestin had their breast cancer risk return to normal within two years of ending the treatment. Eugenia Calle, the lead researcher of that study, says that which she believes the federal warning helped fuel the 2002 drop, "we can't quite tie it up in a neat bow. They should have dropped a little slower and more continuously."

Doctors still say that taking hormones during menopause is safe, but recommend that women take the drugs for as few years as possible. Before the warning, six million women were taking Prempro for strengthening bones, curbing hot flashes and vaginal dryness, and other benefits. Chlebowski says that for about two years combined hormone therapy is safe, but the research "really suggests that there's a great benefit to women for stopping, because the risk goes down almost immediately." He recommends that women use hormone replacement therapy for no more than two or three years, and says even then they should only take the drugs if they are experiencing severe menopausal symptoms that interfere with their quality of life.

But, in a new U.S. News and World Report story, author Deborah Kotz points out that the new research does not mean women should panic about using hormones if they do have bad symptoms because the doses women were taking when the research was originally performed were about twice that of the low-dose therapy doctors give women today, and if women do only take hormones for a short time, their increased risk will disappear within two years.

Breast Cancer's Decline Analyzed [The Wall Street Journal]
Breast Cancer Risk Drops After Women Stop Hormone Use [USA Today]
Hormones And Breast Cancer: 3 Reasons To Not Panic About HRT [US News & World Report]

• Nadya Suleman, the newly-famous mother of 14, has hired an agent. Nadya says she hopes to become a TV childcare expert. • A new study has found that the context in which women recover memories of their childhood sexual abuse can greatly effect the authenticity of those memories. • Authorities in Egypt have been forced to address the rising rates of sexual harassment in Cairo, what was once considered one of the safer mega-cities in the world. • A woman from New Jersey has launched a website, 52Weeks2FindHim.com, to help in her husband hunt. Neenah Pickett has been on several dates with men who contacted her online, but says she rules out anyone who sends her a picture of themselves without their shirt. • Women with higher levels of a hormone produced midway through pregnancy have a higher risk of developing postpartum depression, study says. • A recent study has found that, among high school biology, chemistry, and physics students, there is a noticeable bias against female teachers. • Canadian researchers have developed a new tool to screen for breast cancer, which they believe may help doctors better tailor treatment to individual patients. • Authorities say that a kindergartner found a stash of Oxycontin in her pants that had allegedly been hidden there by her live-in uncle. He is being charged with possession and reckless endangerment. • Screw astrology! In Japan the hot new sham science is blood typing. Matchmakers, kindergartens, and companies are all using blood types to determine compatibility. Unsurprisingly, the theory was first imported to Japan from Nazi race ideologies in the 1930s. • The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the British Fertility Society have issued a joint statement that warns women against freezing their eggs for "lifestyle reasons" on moral grounds. • Doctors (different ones, we assume) have issued a warning against wearing large earrings because they could potentially damage earlobes, leaving "unsightly" scars. • A trial is scheduled to open Wednesday in a lawsuit filed eight years ago against Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus over animal abuse claims. • A leading biologist has described blushing as one of the "biggest gaps in evolutionary theory." Unable to determine any solid reason for blushing, scientists theorize that it may have been a deterrent against lying, designed to favor the most honest among us. • The now-defunct strip club Scores has left behind a treasure trove of cheap wine, marked down to 97% of its original price. • New research has indicated that a strong jawline is one of the telltale signs that a women will be unfaithful. • In response to the lame damsels in distress that populate romance novels, writer Andrea Pickens has created a trilogy about three kick-ass female spies. • Science has brought us one step closer to our all-women utopia! For the first time, developmental biologists have turned adult cells into egg and sperm cell precursors. • An elderly couple from Washington have passed away after 62 years of marriage, a mere six hours apart. (I haven't seen it yet, but I think there's a Notebook reference to be made here). • Historians have found the diary of a Victorian S&M slave Hannah Cullwick. The 19th-century notebook explicitly documents the sexual relationship between Hannah and her master Arthur Munby. They believe that Hannah turned down the opportunity to become a Victorian lady, preferring instead to continue living as Arthur's slave. • 

• With today being the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the anti-choicers are out in full frontal crazy mode. One particularly dick protester smashed his SUV into a Planned Parenthood in St. Paul this morning. The damage was minor. • Two sixteen-year-old British girls were banned from school for being "too blonde." The school's dress code states that there should be no "unnatural" hair color on students. • The man charged with spraying Afghan school girls with acid says that he was paid by a major in the Afghan intelligence unit for the attacks. The girls continue to attend school undeterred. • Adolf Hitler Campbell's mother has told newspapers that "we would never abuse our children," and "I want my children back." • Mariana Bridi da Costa, a finalist in the Miss World competition, had her hands and feet amputated after being diagnosed with a urinary disease. • A new survey has found that professional women are more likely to drink alone at home than men or women in "routine or manual" occupations. • Two women whose sexual harassment accusations led to the resignation of an Ohio attorney general have reached a settlement and will receive over $200,000. • A man from Nevada shackled his 15-year-old daughter to her bed and beat her with a stick because he thought she was overweight. • In other awful parenting news: A 52-year-old Denver woman has been accused of binding her 10-year-old daughter's hands and feet each night because she suspected she was sneaking food. • Two teens from Minnesota have been arrested for abusing the elderly residents of a nursing home where they were employed part-time. • A town in Brazil where one in five pregnancies result in twins may have been the site of Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele's post-war experiments. Mengele was obsessed with twins, and some speculate that he "found the secret of twins." • Men's Health has named the worst food in America. This year it is the 2,600-calorie Baskin Robbin's large chocolate Oreo shake. • The Cat House in Parlier, California, is now home to 700 stray cats and even a few dogs. The owner of the 12-acre shelter says: "There was no place else for all of these cats, and I had all of this land." • Josef Fritzl's trial is set to begin March 16. He faces chargers of murder, rape, false imprisonment, and enslavement. • Polygamous communities in Canada are using the recent legalization of gay marriage as evidence to help overturn laws against polygamy. • Want to know what life looks like for your pet? For $50 you can buy a little camera to attach to their collars. Or you could just crouch down and see for yourself, but whatever. • Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Islamic leaders have condemned comments made by an Australian Muslim cleric who said it was OK to beat and rape your wife. • A British woman living in Dubai lost her appeal to have a sentence for adultery reduced from six months in prison to three. She also faces deportation. • A new study suggests that women suffer from worse nightmares than men because they are more likely to carry emotions from daily life into their sleep. • An 83-year-old man missed his bus back to Indiana because he was busy dancing with a young lady at the inauguration party. He has since found his way home and will be alright. • Head honchos at the San Fransisco Sentinel are trying to sell ad space by advertising their (attractive) female account executive. • A former manager of Hawaiian Tropic says that her boss bribed her to lie about her 2006 rape by a supervisor. • The Swedish National Library apparently has a large collection of child pornography dating from the 1970s, when it had not yet been made illegal. • 

3. Kissing can communicate messages that language cannot: A couple who had known each other since the eighth grade found themselves friends as college seniors — until, one night, he kissed her. A month later, he proposed; they have been married for 18 years. Swoon! Too sweet to snark. 4. You may know that women are "in heat" when they're ovulating — but instead of promiscuity, this fertile phase of the cycle just makes them super picky. Dudes better come with their "A" games. 5. Well this one is kind of a "no shit" study, but apparently the feelings a woman has for her sexual partner are tied to how good her orgasms are. In other words, sex is better when you're in love. 6. This is a titi monkey. These South American primates form strong relationships with their partners, and single (unpaired) male titis have different brain activity than monogamous males. Some dudes just aren't hard-wired to settle down? You don't say! 7. If you're not attached, fed up with love and just wish you could do everything your own damn self, good news! In labs around the world, scientists are working on turning male cells into eggs and female cells into sperm. Sure, lesbian and gay couples eventually may be able to have children who are genetically their own... But maybe you just have one of those really good friends, who makes you think to yourself, if you were a dude, I'd have your baby? Science wants to make that happen!

Affairs of the Lips: Why We Kiss, Kiss and Tell , C'mere, Big Boy, Sex is Better for Women in Love, 'Til Death Do Us Part [Scientific American]
Are Male Eggs And Female Sperm On The Horizon? [New Scientist]
Death Of The Father: British Scientists Discover How To Turn Women's Bone Marrow Into Sperm [This Is London]

It's only after females begin menstrual function that a gender differential in mood disorders manifests itself. This, coupled with the observation that women appear to be especially vulnerable to mood disturbances during times of hormonal flux, certainly lends support to the claim that a relationship exists between sex hormones and mood.

What Is The Link Between Women's Hormones And Mood Disorders? [Science Daily]

This is particularly interesting news in light of Microsoft shutting down several pro-ana websites in Spain after receiving complaints from the government there, who were troubled by any media encouraging (and insisting on) anorexia as a "lifestyle choice."

Womb Hormones 'Lead To Anorexia' [BBC]
Eating Disorder Websites Sanction Self-Loathing [Daily 49er]

• It's like Lost, but with a female heroine instead of well, Jack. Or, er, maybe not. Anyway, a group of investigators is set to visit an uninhabited atoll in the South Pacific to answer question of what happened to Amelia Earhart once and for all. [CBSNews]
  
• Ugh. Is this what we've turned into? Some women detest their appearances so much that they're resorting to do-it-yourself, at-home "plastic surgery", including the ironing of wrinkles. [DailyMail]
  
• Got milk? Get milk! A pint a day can keep the doctor — plus strokes and heart disease — away. [Telegraph]

• Genetics may not affect breast-cancer survival rates after all: Researchers have found that the survival rates of those with two well-known genes linked to the disease are the same as those without. [WSJ]
• Hormone replacement therapy can pose serious risks to post-menopausal women, including risk of heart attack or stroke. [CBSNews]
• One woman in the NY Times' obituaries section today: Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, 68, bestselling romance novelist, and creator of many a "bloodthirsty little wench". [NYTimes]

Men went straight to the face and lingered awhile, but most of the women were more interested in the sexual activity. How much so depended on whether they were taking hormone-filled birth control pills.Those who were, Wallen said, were interested in the overall view of the photos and "background" items like jewelry, but women not on the pill were more interested in areas normally covered by clothing.

Findings: inconclusive. But you wouldn't be on here if you weren't looking for NUANCE, right?

ladyfriend1: man! i really need to get off the pill
ladyfriend1: actually no i don't, i'm deleteriously horny as it is
ladyfriend1: anyway. i think i totally stare at the genitals? the vaginas specifically? whenever i watch porn i start to suspect that i am a lez
ladyfriend1: cause the vaginas are like all i care about, i'm fascinated by 'em

Hmm. Liberated!

ladyfriend2: and yes, i'm on the pill
ladyfriend2: but i haven't watched porn in ages
jezepill: yeah well you've been missing out on some serious 'background' items.

Ha!

jezepill: are you on the pill?
ladyfriend3: no
ladyfriend3: i go crazy
jezepill: ME TOO.
jezepill: the pill turns women into crazy bitches.
jezepill: cliches of women.
jezepill: have you ever watched porn while on the pill?
jezepill: no, because you don't have sex drive on the pill. if you are me you only desire to cry.

jezepill: there's a new study out and i think i'm going to do that thing where I try to corroborate detailed medical studies by IMing my friends
jezepill: so, "friend," women on the pill: better or worse at fucking?
jezepill: bc, according to this new study they are way worse at looking at porn
jezepill: when women on the pill watch porn they look at the details of the furnishings and the lighting and crap
manbuddy1: Worse. You don't have that risk of knocking them up. You miss that edge.
jezepill: you're sooooo trying to get in my pants!

jezepill: Ok. Women on pill. worse in bed? I'll tell you why in a min.
manbuddy2: no. because the fun of finishing inside, unprotected boosts their rating immediately.

manbuddy3: i agree with that completely
manbuddy3: doesn't surprise me at all

And finally, our eureka moment!

ladyfriend4: that's so odd
ladyfriend4: well, i'm definitely on the pill (or was, i'm 4 days late picking up my refill bc i really want to get inseminated) and i prefer full shots of the entire, uh, "scene."
ladyfriend4: i hate when the women are wearing jewelry and shoes and all that. take your fucking heels off, for god's sake.
jezepillOH MY GOD YOU NOTICE.

Study: In Sexy Shots, Men Look At Faces First [USA Today]