Jezebel: ovulation

Laying An Egg

Megan — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:40:00 EST

A study suggests that ovulating women are more susceptible to being hit on. Who knew the pill could also prevent you from giving a douchebag your number? That's contraception we can believe in. [New Scientist]

The Incredible, Inedible Egg

Megan — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:45:00 EDT

The process of ovulation has been for the first time — if you can believe that — caught on film. Jacques Donnez of the Catholic University of Louvain in Brussels was about to perform a partial hysterectomy on a patient and captured her ovulation on film, a process that took approximately 15 minutes. Scientists used to think it happened much more quickly. While it isn't the biggest leap in the world for science, the pictures (which you can see if you click the egg) are simultaneously awesome and icky. [New Scientist, picture by the Loomlady]

Kissing, Monogamy & The Future Of Makin' Babies

dodai — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:00:00 EST

Tomorrow is the first day of February, and the Valentine's Day crap has hit the fan! Scientific American is feeling the love — the magazine has a series of articles about kissing, orgasms and monogamy. There are sexy little stories in New Scientist and the Daily Mail, too. Ready to snuggle up to some cold, hard facts?
1. Lips have the slimmest layer of skin on the human body; but lips are among the body parts most densely populated with sensory neurons. That's why a kiss can send sensations over your whole body. Then again, so can ice cream.
2. A new study from Lafayette College examined key hormones in 15 couples before and after they kissed and before and after they talked to each other while holding hands. The researchers expected oxytocin (bonding) levels to rise and cortisol (stress) levels to fall. But the oxytocin levels rose only in the males. Chicks need more than a kiss and some hand-holding to bond! Still, stress-levels dropped for both sexes. Making out is the new (old) yoga!

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]

Dudes Look Hotter When You're Ovulating

Dodai — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 14:00:00 EST

So when you read that an Indiana University neuroscientist discovered women's brains respond differently to male faces depending on the stage of their menstrual cycles, do you think to yourself, "Aha!" Who among us has never looked at a guy we previously thought to be hot and suddenly found him to be a wee bit fug? Out of nowhere, his skin seems leathery, his pores huge and filthy, his teeth urinal yellow. And, almost as disconcerting, sometimes a guy you never found attractive becomes spontaneously delicious. It's like he's stepped into a shaft of heavenly light or something. Time stops, the angels sing, you knit your eyebrows and stare, incredulously. When did he get foxy? The answer is often simple: Ovulation Goggles.

The I.U. study, which involved 12 (?!) heterosexual women ages 23-28 who were not using hormonal contraceptives or in committed relationships, involved morphing male faces to appear more or less masculine. Sexual risk information included how many guys the women had slept with and condom use. The women were asked to indicate how likely they would be to have sex with the man depicted. The results? Women were more apt to engage in risky sexual behavior when ovulating. "These findings suggest that women's brain systems that process rewards may be more sensitive around the time that women are likely to conceive," said Heather Rupp, research fellow at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction. Hey, Heather: No shit! Throw a few cocktails into the equation and you've got the stuff one-night stands are made of. What we really need is some kind of alarm — maybe on our cell phones? — that can warn us not to liplock while under the influence of hormones. Someone wanna get started on that?

Women View Men's Faces Differently Depending On The Stage Of Their Menstrual Cycle [Science Daily]

Dear Britney, We're Worried About Your Liver

Jessica — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 17:00:00 EDT

Britney should be worried about her liver, and not just because of her coke snorting and purple drank-ing — because of her Taco Bell-laden diet. A recent study showed that mice on a high fat diet were much more susceptible to liver injury. [Science Daily]
The World Toilet Summit is currently getting "down to business" in New Delhi, but they're not talking bidets: They're working on getting third world denizens clean water and hygienic potties. [AP via MSNBC]
Note to germ fearing gym-goers — a new vaccine against super Staph Infections is looking promising. Don't fear the elliptical! [Science Daily]

Always remember to be nice to Fido because he might save your life. Toby the golden retriever and Winnie the American shorthair were named dog and cat of the year by the ASPCA for saving their masters from peril. [MSNBC]
Whoa, a new reason to take Tylenol PM. Apparently an over-the-counter sleep aid, Zolpidem, helped a British woman come out of a 6-year coma. [Daily Mail]
Attention Tinsley and other mass-produced pizza lovers! Five million frozen pizzas from the Totino's and Jeno's brands have been recalled due to possible E. coli contamination. [CBS News]
Senators Joe Biden and Richard Lugar have introduced the International Violence Against Women Act. The bill seeks to organize policies that will help end violence against women, send over $170 million each year to support new programs, and a system for dealing with victims of anti-female crime.
[Feminist Daily News]
A new study shows that a healthy diet and lifestyle may increase fertility in women with ovulatory disorders. Scientists never let us eat anything fun! [Science Daily]

There's A Crimson Tide At Jezebel HQ

Moe — Thu, 10 May 2007 18:28:01 EDT

Moeisaboysname: what is Lock talking to you about
annawinsatskeeball: he just said "how goes it"?
annawinsatskeeball: and i'm like 'uh, i have my period and moe and i are IM'ing about it'
annawinsatskeeball: HAHA
Moeisaboysname: all right so suffice it to say it has been an eventful week for my snatch
Moeisaboysname: which is not to say i have had any sex this week
Moeisaboysname: only that it has had just about every non sexually transmitted malady
annawinsatskeeball: herpes?
Moeisaboysname: and now THIS.
Moeisaboysname: what is your heaviest flow day?
Moeisaboysname: mine's tomorrow! can't wait
Moeisaboysname: especially with this balmy weather upon us!
annawinsatskeeball: Mine will be tomorrow as well, although today is second runner up.
Moeisaboysname: also: do you keep track of your cycle?
Moeisaboysname: because i don't.
Moeisaboysname: so you can keep track of both of us!
annawinsatskeeball: The way I keep track of my cycle is when I either start crying for no reason or I begin to break out in zits.
annawinsatskeeball: Do you use pads or tampons?
Moeisaboysname: but i wasn't that bad yesterday.
Moeisaboysname: tampons of course
annawinsatskeeball: Even on a heavy day?
Moeisaboysname: yeah i just like to stain all my underwear
annawinsatskeeball: I'm kind of over tampons
Moeisaboysname: it's my signature
Moeisaboysname: yeah i hate pads
Moeisaboysname: i'm not over them yet
annawinsatskeeball: I hate pads too but I am sick of sticking shit up my snatch.
Moeisaboysname: no you're not
Moeisaboysname: i know you better than that
annawinsatskeeball: haha
annawinsatskeeball: Tampons are also messier
Moeisaboysname: remember back when all the teen magazines used to have that obligatory
Moeisaboysname: "just bc you stick it up yourself DOESN'T MEAN you're not a virgin!!"
annawinsatskeeball: haha yes.
Moeisaboysname: wait, also:
Moeisaboysname: the hymen
Moeisaboysname: does that still exist?
annawinsatskeeball: I think evolution moved beyond it.
Moeisaboysname: hahaha
annawinsatskeeball: I began "practicing" with tampons before I even got my period.
Moeisaboysname: what?!
Moeisaboysname: wait, WHAT?!
annawinsatskeeball: I practiced once. Meaning I stole a tampon from my friend Rachel and went home and inserted it. And I couldn't get it out. Cause, you know, there was no MOISTURE to lube it up. And I was in the bathroom crying and my mom had to come help me. Of course it didn't help that when I panicked I bore down on the tampon even more which made it harder to remove.
Moeisaboysname: that is awesome
annawinsatskeeball: It hurt!
Moeisaboysname: i bet!
annawinsatskeeball: So why does no one ever talk about how you have to shit the first day of your period?
annawinsatskeeball: Or is that just me?
Moeisaboysname: uh
Moeisaboysname: i don't think i shit today
annawinsatskeeball: You don't get the shits when you get your period?
Moeisaboysname: no yeah it fucks with the bowels
Moeisaboysname: but everything fucks with my bowels
Moeisaboysname: not nec on the FIRST DAY
annawinsatskeeball: When the cramps start is when it happens. It's like the contractions of my uterus are also having an effect on my lower intestine.
Moeisaboysname: oh yeah
annawinsatskeeball: I'm giving birth in more ways than one!
Moeisaboysname: To a big bloody uterine lining mess... and piles of watery excrement. Nice!
annawinsatskeeball: I never said it was watery.
Moeisaboysname: oh haha
Moeisaboysname: PROJECTING
annawinsatskeeball: you think?
Moeisaboysname: my period was like a miscarriage ever 28 days all last year, just VILE.
Moeisaboysname: but somehow KNOCK WOOD it hasn't been the worst thing in the world this year
Moeisaboysname: i'm actually knocking wood
Moeisaboysname: hahaha "wood"
annawinsatskeeball: you are such a boy