This Science for the People is exploring the intersection of science, society, and sex with the origin story of the birth control pill. They speak to author Jonathan Eig about his book The Birth of the Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution. Writer Rose Eveleth also returns to talk about the history and design of the vaginal speculum.
*Josh provides research help to Science for the People and is, therefore, completely biased.
This week, Science for The People looking at the social and biological science of female sex organs. They talk to Dr. Anthony Atala, director of the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center Institute for Regenerative Medicine, about the creation and use of lab-grown vaginas. Biology professor Marie Herberstein exposes the bias against female genitalia in scientific studies. And science writer Emily Anthes tells them about the history and promising future of female condoms.
Sex education should address the intersection of biology, interpersonal relationships, and society with a backing of solid science. It should and can be sex positive without promoting irresponsible behavior – indeed quality sex education leads to more responsible behavior. Quality sex education can also be aesthetically pleasing, as Carlin Soos demonstrates with “AP Sex Ed”.
Kayt Sukel’s Dirty Minds is a book about neuroscience that has questions, not answers. That alone should be enough reason for you to pick it up. Sukel’s agenda is not to tell her reader how the human mind works. It is to convince her reader that our minds are complicated messes – they are dirty, in the cleanest sense of the term1. Our mind is the result of a rat’s nest of neurons bathed in a complex soup of hormones interacting with our environment. The point is not that our dirty minds have been solved, but that they are so damned interesting.
If you need another reason, a lot of the book is about sex2. Really, it is about research into the neurological basis of love. It covers relationships, parenting, even a wee bit of religion, and sex; but, when you say “and sex”, you might as well say “it’s about sex”. Continue reading “Dirty Minds: Your love life is supposed to be complicated”
The Finch and Pea 