the eye of Nova's mind

After gay wedding on TV, Ypsilanti Township woman attacked, knocked out | my DailyKos diary on the topic

Australia's high court rules in favor of gender neutrality

Night owls, unlike early birds, tend to be unmarried risk-takers -- true for both males & females; linked to cortisol levels

Circumcision rates declining in U.S., study says -- This article, suffice it to say, is slanted.

Everything you always wanted to know about female ejaculation (but were afraid to ask) -- very good article. Thanks, davidfcooper

Spanking Kids Increases Risk of Sexual Problems as Adults -- found in feminist

"These results, together with the results of more than 100 other studies, suggest that spanking is one of the roots of relationship violence and mental health problems. Because there is 93 percent agreement between studies that investigated harmful side effects of spanking, and because over 90 percent of U.S. parents spank toddlers, the potential benefits for prevention of sexual and relationship violence is large," Straus says.

"Furthermore, because other research shows spanking is not more effective than other discipline methods, there is no need to expose children to the harmful effects of spanking. We can help prevent mental health problems and relationship violence from happening by a national health policy recommending never spanking," he says.

Hmm: Glimpse of Time Before Big Bang Possible

Million-year-old human tooth found in Spain

Exercise Grows New Brain Cells

Scientists discover key to manipulating fat: Pathway also explains stress-induced weight gain (thanks, dsgood)

Smoking could kill 1 billion this century - WHO

Left-handers 'think' more quickly -- slightly dated news, but news to me

Prions key in Alzheimer's disease

Brain cancer drug hope from frogs

Four percent of American adults never had sex

Masturbation Lowers Prostrate Cancer Risk--Study

Frequent masturbation, particularly in the 20s, helps prevent prostate cancer later in life, according to new research.

Australian scientists have shown that the more men masturbate between the ages of 20 and 50, the less likely they are to develop the disease that kills more than half a million men each year.

They suspect that frequent ejaculation has a protective effect against the cancer because it prevents dangerous carcinogens from building up in the gland.

"The more you flush the ducts out, the less there is to hang around and damage the cells that line them," Graham Giles, of the Cancer Council Victoria in Melbourne, told New Scientist magazine on Wednesday.

In a survey of 1,079 prostate cancer patients and 1,259 healthy men, Giles and his team discovered that men who ejaculated more than five times a week in their 20s were a third less likely to develop an aggressive form of the disease.

The findings contradict previous studies which suggested that having a variety of partners or frequent sexual activity could increase the risk of prostate cancer by 40 percent.

But Giles said the earlier research concentrated on intercourse, whereas his study focused on masturbation. Infections caused by sexual activity could account for the different findings.

"Men have many ways of using their prostate which don't involve women or other men," he added.