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Neurotopia
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- March 12, 2010
- 12:46 AM
- 45 views
Friday Weird Science: Ejaculation 1, 2, 3...
by Evil Monkey in Neurotopia
Well well well. Here we are. It's Friday. And we've been talking about SPERM ALL WEEK.
What to do...what to do...
Nel-Themaat et al. "Quality and freezing qualities of first and second ejaculates collected from endangered Gulf Coast Native rams" Animal Reproduction Science, 2006.
Heh.
So it turns out that the people who wrote the study Sci covered the other week wrote ANOTHER one. Also, it turns out the eland is not endangered, but the other species they were working with, the Gulf Co........ Read more »
NELTHEMAAT, L., HARDING, G., CHANDLER, J., CHENEVERT, J., DAMIANI, P., FERNANDEZ, J., HUMES, P., POPE, C., & GODKE, R. (2006) Quality and freezing qualities of first and second ejaculates collected from endangered Gulf Coast Native rams. Animal Reproduction Science, 95(3-4), 251-261. DOI: 10.1016/j.anireprosci.2005.09.014
- March 5, 2010
- 12:48 AM
- 72 views
Friday Weird Science: Do Your Balls Hang Low?
by Evil Monkey in Neurotopia
Sci came across this abstract via NCBI ROFL, the aggregation site with some truly hilarious studies on it, many of them worthy Friday Weird Science materials. And of course this one is EXTRA worthy. It's from the Journal of Medical Hypotheses. Wither Weird Science, Medical Hypotheses, but for thee?
So, coming up into this next week, Sci is proud to announce an awesome series of guest posts. Seeing as we spent the last three weeks or so on female reproduction, it seems only fair to represent........ Read more »
KUMAR, A. (2008) Swinging high and low: Why do the testes hang at different levels A theory on surface area and thermoregulation. Medical Hypotheses, 70(3), 698-698. DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2007.06.023
- February 26, 2010
- 12:22 AM
- 122 views
Friday Weird Science: Doing your Kegels to Improve your Orgasms
by Evil Monkey in Neurotopia
Many of you may have heard from your doctor that doing Kegels is a good thing. It's certainly good for keeping your pelvic floor strong, to prevent problems like uterine prolapse following birth. It's also very good for keeping your bladder good and functional later in life. So do your Kegels, ladies.
However, Sci has always heard through the grapevine that Kegels were also good for...other things.
Well, are they?
Lowenstein et al. "Can stronger pelvic muscle floor improve sexual function........ Read more »
Lowenstein, L., Gruenwald, I., Gartman, I., & Vardi, Y. (2010) Can stronger pelvic muscle floor improve sexual function?. International Urogynecology Journal. DOI: 10.1007/s00192-009-1077-5
- February 19, 2010
- 12:36 AM
- 107 views
Friday Weird Science: Sex Therapists and the Expectations
by Evil Monkey in Neurotopia
We hereby take a break from the female reproductive cycle to ask:
How's your sex life?
How do you FEEL about your sex life?
(If Sci were a psychiatrist, she would have to have this as her computer background.)
More importantly, how does your SEX THERAPIST feel about your sex life?
Corty EW, Guardiani JM. "Canadian and American sex therapists' perceptions of normal and abnormal ejaculatory latencies: how long should intercourse last?" Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2008.
Read the rest of........ Read more »
Corty, E., & Guardiani, J. (2008) Canadian and American Sex Therapists' Perceptions of Normal and Abnormal Ejaculatory Latencies: How Long Should Intercourse Last?. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 5(5), 1251-1256. DOI: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2008.00797.x
- February 12, 2010
- 12:22 AM
- 78 views
Friday Weird Science: Redder than a baboon's butt
by Evil Monkey in Neurotopia
...can Sci use "butt" in her post title? I guess we're going to find out!
Courtesy of NCBI ROFL, who gave me the idea to Pubmed this thing.
Ozkaya, E. "An unusual case of mercurial baboon syndrome: lasting seasonal attacks in a retired metalworker". Contact Dermatitis, 2008.
So what, you may ask, is baboon syndrome?
(Pics below NSFW. Really, it's Friday Weird Science, is this even a question by now?) Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...... Read more »
Ozkaya E. (2008) An unusual case of mercurial baboon syndrome: lasting seasonal attacks in a retired metalworker. Contact dermatitis, 58(2), 107-8. PMID: 18186745
- February 10, 2010
- 03:02 PM
- 98 views
Immunization for Addiction: the Cocaine Vaccine
by Evil Monkey in Neurotopia
Every so often this cocaine vaccine issue rears its head again. I saw it again just the other day. The problem is, of course, the tendency of the media (ain't it always the media) to say something like "OMG THIS IS TEH CURE FOR EVERYTHING!" in response to one small study. And who knows, the cocaine vaccine may indeed be the cure for everything, but Sci needs to see some big trials before she gets her hopes up. As it is, the studies I have seen provide some interesting clues, but also provide........ Read more »
Haney, M., Gunderson, E., Jiang, H., Collins, E., & Foltin, R. (2010) Cocaine-Specific Antibodies Blunt the Subjective Effects of Smoked Cocaine in Humans. Biological Psychiatry, 67(1), 59-65. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.08.031
- February 5, 2010
- 12:18 AM
- 102 views
Friday Weird Science: Preserving the Species
by Evil Monkey in Neurotopia
As I'm sure most of you are aware, the human species isn't really in immediate danger from dying out due to lack of mating partners (other reasons, I leave up to you). And after all, if all else fails, a trip to a sperm bank can often be arranged. But what about those rare animals growing steadily rarer from the encroachment of humans on their habitat? Well this is when you need to lend a hand. It's time to preserve some...eland semen.
Nel-Themaat et al. "Isolation, culture and characteri........ Read more »
Nel-Themaat, L., Gómez, M., Damiani, P., Wirtu, G., Dresser, B., Bondioli, K., Lyons, L., Pope, C., & Godke, R. (2007) Isolation, culture and characterisation of somatic cells derived from semen and milk of endangered sheep and eland antelope. Reproduction, Fertility and Development, 19(4), 576. DOI: 10.1071/RD06153
- January 29, 2010
- 12:01 AM
- 148 views
Friday Weird Science: Getting carpal tunnel could be more fun than you think
by Evil Monkey in Neurotopia
So after that whole myth about sex in space got thrown around and it turned out to be bunk (well, ok, I'm calling it bunk until I see the report my ownself, and I was SO happy to be able to say "sex...in...spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace...". Blah), I figure I owe you guys some REAL Friday Weird Science. Or at least, a really amusing hypothesis.
Ah, Journal of Medical Hypotheses. Where would we be without the hilarious, half-baked meanderings of people who submit their lightly-supported ideas to a j........ Read more »
Zenian, J. (2010) The role of sexual intercourse in the etiology of carpal tunnel syndrome. Medical Hypotheses. DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2009.12.015
- January 22, 2010
- 01:11 AM
- 161 views
Friday Weird Science: Duck, duck, penis.
by Evil Monkey in Neurotopia
Sci is going to so some selfish Friday Weird Science today. Selfish, because this article isn't new, and was reported on by one of the GREATS. This guy. He (of course) did a completely brilliant job, and when he talked about it at SciOnline this past weekend, Sci was compelled to go and see the material for herself. And it's something to SEE. And so see it you shall.
The reason this is selfish is because Sci knows it's been reported on before. She wants to do it her ownself, as an excuse ........ Read more »
Brennan, P., Clark, C., & Prum, R. (2009) Explosive eversion and functional morphology of the duck penis supports sexual conflict in waterfowl genitalia. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2009.2139
- January 20, 2010
- 12:24 AM
- 172 views
Attractiveness, anger, and warrior princess blondes
by Evil Monkey in Neurotopia
Suffice it to say that
(X + Y+ Z) * (A*B)= This
Where
X = Sci
Y = Cold
Z = Migrain
and
A = cold medication
B = Migraine medication
This = Annnnnnd WHEEEEEEE!!!!!!
And you know, that's good. That's good because Sci had to go and see THIS first thing in the morning.
Ouchie. First off, Sci has to correct some major misconceptions here on behalf of teh blonde ladiez everywhere (though others have come before me, and verily, they are awesome). And then Sci has to go on a minor rant. Ho........ Read more »
Sell A, Tooby J, & Cosmides L. (2009) Formidability and the logic of human anger. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(35), 15073-8. PMID: 19666613
- January 11, 2010
- 12:09 AM
- 166 views
The music of the species
by Evil Monkey in Neurotopia
It's all about the music.
Gill and Purves. "A biological rationale for musical scales" PLoS ONE, 2009
So you might think that music like this:
(HOT STUFF. Go to 0:35 for the real hotness. It's Victoria's O Magnum Mysterium)
or this:
(Also some killer hot stuff, 3:50 has the real chills. The Lauridsen version)
Don't have much in common with THIS hot stuff:
(That'll wake you up! No idea who this guy is, but he's hilarious, and the dancers wearing body suits under skimpy outfits are the........ Read more »
Gill KZ, & Purves D. (2009) A biological rationale for musical scales. PloS one, 4(12). PMID: 19997506
- January 8, 2010
- 11:56 AM
- 195 views
Friday Weird Science: the "reality" of the G Spot and the mainstream media
by Evil Monkey in Neurotopia
Today's post is going up late due to some truly massive equipment fail in Sci's lab. Sci very much wishes that equipment would have enough respect to at least wait until her second cup of coffee to explode and throw carcinogens all over the lab.
Anyway, in her inbox the other day, Sci got this from a friend of the blog: "The G-spot 'doesn't appear to exist', say researchers".
(XKCD is always on top of this)
Apparently it's generating a lot of controversy. So Sci, of course, had to g........ Read more »
Andrea Virginia Burri, MSc, Lynn Cherkas, PhD, and Timothy D. Spector, MD. (2010) Genetic and Environmental Influences on self-reported G-Spots in Women: A Twin Study. Journal of Sexual Medicine. info:/
- January 4, 2010
- 12:28 AM
- 208 views
Sleep Deprivation Gives Me the Chills
by Evil Monkey in Neurotopia
Sci is about to embark on what she suspects will be two or three months with very little sleep, due to various personal and professional matters, and of course, blogging matters. And while she was discussing this with some friends, one of them brought up something very interesting:
She said "does anyone else feel COLD when they don't get sleep?"
And it occurred to me that she was very right. When I haven't been sleeping enough, I get COLD. I wake up freezing and end up bundling up in variou........ Read more »
Vaara, J., Kyröläinen, H., Koivu, M., Tulppo, M., & Finni, T. (2008) The effect of 60-h sleep deprivation on cardiovascular regulation and body temperature. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 105(3), 439-444. DOI: 10.1007/s00421-008-0921-5
- December 28, 2009
- 12:48 AM
- 200 views
Monkey Pay Per View
by Evil Monkey in Neurotopia
As humans, we know how important social interactions are. Aside from the importance of immediate family members, we also like to socialize with new people, unrelated people, and generally just people. There are several other species which are also known to be very social, and I'm not talking about bees. In mammals, the size of the frontal cortex, which is very important for higher informational processing, actually varies according to how high the group size of the species generally is. For ........ Read more »
Deaner, R., Khera, A., & Platt, M. (2005) Monkeys Pay Per View: Adaptive Valuation of Social Images by Rhesus Macaques. Current Biology, 15(6), 543-548. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2005.01.044
- December 21, 2009
- 12:19 AM
- 244 views
When Dec 25th Isn't Christmas Day
by Evil Monkey in Neurotopia
In celebration of the holiday season, Sci went looking for something seasonal. But referring constantly to things like how many calories we eat around this time (Sci is no exception) is really a downer. So this season, Sci decided to find out what would happen if you plug the word "christmas" into pubmed.
It turns out there are a lot of people named Christmas.
But Sci ALSO came across this study, which she found to be a really really cool phenomenon of SCIENCE! And so, as her holiday gift ........ Read more »
CAPPELLETTI, M., JANSARI, A., KOPELMAN, M., & BUTTERWORTH, B. (2008) A case of selective impairment of encyclopaedic numerical knowledge or ‘when December 25th is no longer Christmas day, but ‘20 5’ is still 25’. Cortex, 44(3), 325-336. DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2006.07.005
- December 14, 2009
- 12:07 AM
- 235 views
Zicam and your Nose
by Evil Monkey in Neurotopia
Sci saw this post recently at Dr. Pal's place, and it rang some major bells in her head. So, I figure, I've got to cover it myself, now don't I.
Lim et al. "Zican-induced damage to mouse and human nasal tissue" PLoS ONE, 2009.
So let's start with a couple of things:
1) What is Zicam?
2) Why was it recalled?
3) What are the possible effects of zinc on the common cold? Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...... Read more »
Lim JH, Davis GE, Wang Z, Li V, Wu Y, Rue TC, & Storm DR. (2009) Zicam-induced damage to mouse and human nasal tissue. PloS one, 4(10). PMID: 19876403
- December 11, 2009
- 12:26 AM
- 244 views
Friday Weird Science: Creative Uses of the Stopwatch
by Evil Monkey in Neurotopia
For Sci, the weird science tends to come in spurts (heh heh...heh). There will be times when I am literally digging through Pubmed trying to find ANYTHING ODD AT ALL, and then there are times, like now, when people are tweeting and emailing and g-chatting and all but screaming in my ear with the weird. Got enough crazy sexual crap around here to last for WEEKS.
And a good thing, too, cause it's all about premature ejaculation, and don't we all wish we could last for weeks...
*rimshot!*
So we........ Read more »
Waldinger, M., Quinn, P., Dilleen, M., Mundayat, R., Schweitzer, D., & Boolell, M. (2005) A Multinational Population Survey of Intravaginal Ejaculation Latency Time. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2(4), 492-497. DOI: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2005.00070.x
- December 4, 2009
- 12:29 AM
- 251 views
Friday Weird Science: Hyposexual, Hypersexual, and Oxytocin
by Evil Monkey in Neurotopia
Oh, you all thought oxytocin posts were DONE!? BY NO MEANS. For oxytocin lends itself to the truly weird science, and this one simply could not be ignored. In addition, Sci is compelled to blog this paper out of sympathy and understanding for the poor little grad student (or possibly the tech) who WITNESSED this entire experiment, on a weekly basis, for I don't know how long. Oh you devoted servant of science, Sci takes her hat off to you this day.
...moment of silence...
Pattij, et al......... Read more »
Pattij T, de Jong TR, Uitterdijk A, Waldinger MD, Veening JG, Cools AR, van der Graaf PH, & Olivier B. (2005) Individual differences in male rat ejaculatory behaviour: searching for models to study ejaculation disorders. The European journal of neuroscience, 22(3), 724-34. PMID: 16101754
- December 2, 2009
- 12:49 AM
- 235 views
Mapping the Glutamate Receptor
by Evil Monkey in Neurotopia
So Sci said she wasn't going to blog this week because of Open Lab and how stressed she is.
(Sci right now, only with better hair and no pocket-protector)
But she lied.
The science, it calls us, precious.
Ah, the power of Twitter. It is indeed powerful, for it hath informed Sci of a new development in SCIENCE. Also, it made her sing. We'll get to that.
Sobolevsky, Rosconi, Gouaux "X-ray structure, symmetry and mechanism of an AMPA-subtype glutamate receptor" Nature, 2009.
Pretty, h........ Read more »
Sobolevsky AI, Rosconi MP, & Gouaux E. (2009) X-ray structure, symmetry and mechanism of an AMPA-subtype glutamate receptor. Nature. PMID: 19946266
- November 20, 2009
- 12:12 AM
- 264 views
Friday Weird Science: Oxytocin in your Cavernosa
by Evil Monkey in Neurotopia
This post brought to you by Ben and Jerry's Dublin Mudslide Ice Cream. Because the Twitter people are like little devils on my shoulder, making me eat the cake...
(
So Sci was going to do her final oxytocin post on another study in humans for oxytocin levels during male masturbation, but you know, you've seen one, you've seen them all. I know that they were looking at slightly different things, but...well...it all looked the same: oxytocin measured while a guy is in a room with some porn, m........ Read more »
Uckert S, Becker AJ, Ness BO, Stief CG, Scheller F, Knapp WH, & Jonas U. (2003) Oxytocin plasma levels in the systemic and cavernous blood of healthy males during different penile conditions. World journal of urology, 20(6), 323-6. PMID: 12811490
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