Yesterday, a proposed ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy was rejected by voters of Albuquerque. We're not talking a polite "it's not you, it's me" kind of rejection. We're talking changing your phone number-level rejection. We're talking Moving To Another City Without Telling You kind of rejection. Here's why…
Sometimes, as a woman, I find myself adrift on a rudderless sea of indecision bereft of the opinions of others weighing in on my conduct. How should I dress? Should I be thin or what? Should I do anything to my face to make it look different? How should I conduct myself sexually? How should I age? When should I talk?…
Freaking out about teen girls having teen sex is as American an institution as packing one's overtaxed colon full of heavily processed meats during football games. But reality paints a different picture than the pearl-clutching; for the severalth year in a row, all that sex teens are supposedly having due to TWERKING…
The children's literature market has come a long way since (the ever wonderful and important) Pat the Bunny. These days, kid's tales tackle topics from adoption to egg donation — and they do it in giant books with adorable, full-color illustrations. Basically, if you're looking for something to explain to your…
The most popular question of 2012 on Slate's "The Explainer" was "Why do rich ladies sunbathe topless?" After that important exercise in investigative journalism was completed, Slate doubled back to answer another high-ranked question that's a modicum more interesting, although the interested parties could probably just…
By now, many people have seen Jonathan and Ivory's very cute, She & Him-esque breakup video
Um! If any girlfish are reading this, please beware when you come across male freshwater llanos mosquitofish, otherwise known as Gambusia quadruncus. The evolution of the females of this Mexican species has given them a large ball of tissue that blocks most of their genital canal in order to allow them to keep away…
In some parts of the world, there has been a considerable decline in sperm quality and quantity in recent years, according to reports from sperm banks as well as evidence from scientific research. The cause is not yet known, but some are pointing pollutants and a "modern Western lifestyle," which includes cellphones in…
Despite vigorous headshaking from healthcare professionals who don't live in Denmark, 1 in 13 women still drink even when they're pregnant. A CDC report released Thursday found that 51.5 percent of non-pregnant women ages 18-44 said they had used alcohol in the past 30 days, with 7.6 percent of pregnant women in that…
According to new research from (duh) Europe, pregnant women who cave to the siren's call of a glass of wine or four don't necessarily put their future babies at risk for cognitive problems, at least early in life. Unfortunately, a distended pregnant abdomen may make it difficult for others to take body shots off of…
File this under "Future Very, Very Rich People Problems" — a British medical panel ruled today that a method of in vitro fertilization that seeks to eliminate inherited genetic diseases by introducing a third set of DNA to the mix is ethical as long as it's safe and effective. And as long as all parties agree on genetic…
If you're wont to think about your reproductive system, usually you're thinking about your eggs (they're dyyyyying, after all) than about your fallopian tubes. But maybe we should start, because some doctors are suggesting women start thinking about removing them — not just having the tubes tied — when they're done…
We've long been fed the image that sperm make their way to our eggs by wiggling their little tails and magically swimming up our reproductive tract to find the treasure at the end of the line. Well, new research is painting a decidedly less appealing picture of what actually happens when the little sperm get released…
It might be a total pain in the ass to woo sexual partners and make an effort to have a relationship with them, but science has now confirmed what any teenager could tell you: the sex makes it totally worth it. Apparently, mating "can produce benefits for a species in the long term." Well, you don't say?
The world, and especially our mother, never tires of telling us that our biological clocks are ticking. We'd better have those babies sooner rather than later because we're running out of eggs, they say relentlessly. And there's a pretty good reason: Unlike our male counterparts, who produce sperm until they're old and …
You know how today's young women are just waltzing through life, oblivious to their shriveling ovaries? Actually, for a lot of women (and men) the opposite is true — they wrongly assume they're infertile. And that can cause its own set of problems.
What are your plans for today? If you said, "having sex," then you've got lots of company. (Although hopefully you're not doing it right this second. You don't want to be rude!) It turns out that the period between Christmas and New Year's Day is a time when a huge amount of babies are conceived. A study found that 9…
A new study suggests that using a WiFi-enabled laptop could lead to sperm damage. Some scientists, however, say a sperm freakout is premature.
A new study shows that women without kids may have poorer health than moms do, and bias against childlessness could be part of the reason why.
Interviews with sperm and egg donors reveal an interesting dichotomy: while men who give sperm think of themselves as fathers, women who donate eggs don't see themselves as moms. This may say a lot about how we view motherhood and fatherhood.
New mothers interested in long term birth control typically have two options after giving birth. One is completely reversible and renewable every 5 to 10 years, the other is permanent, more expensive, and difficult to reverse. It seems that, for women in a position to choose, the . Why, then, do so many women opt for…
A new study suggests that ovulation may improve women's ability to discern men's sexual orientation. Also useful in this department: reading romance stories.
Well, now we have a plot for The Hangover III: in a new trend, fathers-to-be are apparently going out for a booze-soaked last hurrah with their buddies before they become totally lame. Friends, meet the "dadelor party."
America's favorite sadistic/hot weight loss coach Jillian Michaels will no longer be making America cry in pain on TV, as she wants a baby. Remember eight months ago, when she was all, "I'd never do that to my body
We know that dads' unsavory health and lifestyle choices—drinking too much, cigarette smoking, binging on high-fructose corn disasters—can negatively affect living children. But what about their unborn kids? Yep, those too.
Scientists have managed to take females out of the reproduction equation by getting two male mice to reproduce together, opening up the possibility for future human male/male reproduction (with a female surrogate to carry). No one tell Christine O'Donnell.
Arguments about reproductive choice don't usually consider the option of sterilizing the entire human race. So that makes this latest argument special.
According to a Centers for Disease Control report, the US birth rate fell in 2008, among teens as well as older women. One possible cause of our reduced babymaking: the recession.
We might still be a ways away from reproducing sans-men
