“Everyone from U.S. teens (70%) to adults (82%) to British teens (80%) forgoes condoms every time they have oral sex,” Jake Blumgart of the Pacific Standard via Salon reports. You’re thinking, “Really? I thought the numbers would be higher.”
Of course, the smart thing to do would be to use condoms or dental dams for every act of oral sex to avoid the oral transmission of HPV, gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes, hepatitis B, chlamydia and HIV. After citing these dismal safer oral sex statistic and frightening us with the idea that we’re all going to get HPV and die of cancer unless we start using condoms and dental dams immediately — Unless it’s already too late! — Blumgart ends his article on a semi-optimistic note: “Back in the ‘70s, people never thought men would be willing to wear condoms for penile-vaginal or oral intercourse,” but “due to the effective campaigning, especially around HIV… we’ve really seen condom use rise for those types of sex. If people were really educated about what they were risking by having unprotected oral sex, I have faith in the public that enough of us would find value in protecting ourselves.”
So, with greater education about the risks of unprotected oral sex and campaigns that emphasize how safe oral sex can be fun, we’ll all start protecting ourselves with latex barriers, just like we all surely do during PIV and anal sex. But wait. This seems to contradict the statistics cited previously in the article about condom use during vaginal intercourse: “About one-fourth of single adults never use condoms during vaginal sex.” According to the National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior, only one-fourth of vaginal intercourse is protected, but according to the Centers for Disease Control condom use is on the rise, but 68.3% of unmarried men and 71.6% of unmarried women aged 15 to 44 who had sex in the last four weeks “never” use condoms.
So, the use of condoms for vaginal (and, presumably, anal) intercourse sex in the United States occurs at a dismally low rate, even with education campaigns focused on the risks of unprotected PIV and the commercial propagation of condom use as “fun.” It’s worth noting Blumgart’s only example of a group of people who use condoms consistently for oral sex is sex workers, who go through the effort of making the use of condoms for oral sex “fun” and “sexy,” but only so it doesn’t cut into their bottom line.
Let’s face it: Condoms and dental dams still taste unpleasant and dry, even with lube, not to mention the dulled sensation. We’re a long way from condoms and dental dams being considered standard for oral sex, despite efforts to mainstream their use, even in the adult film industry. A more currently practical approach would be one of reducing risk: No ejaculation in the mouth. Or, if it does occur, you can at least reduce the risk of HIV virus transmission by spitting or swallowing it immediately instead of letting it sit in your mouth, as stomach acid and enzymes in the esophagus kill the HIV virus.
Perhaps most practical solution of all would not to be to compartmentalize an individual public health issue like HPV but work to make education about and access to vaccines, cancer screenings, and testing readily available, to all economic levels.
The post Free HPV Vaccines Are More Fun Than Blowjobs With Condoms appeared first on ANIMAL.
DOMA’s demise meant the end of a long legal battle for one New York City-based binational couple. Sean Brooks and his Columbian-native husband Steven filed for a green card for Steven in 2011, after their marriage at City Hall in New York City, but their request was not approved as their marriage was not federally recognized. This caused the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to refuse to grant Steven a green card.
In an editorial published by the DOMA Project in December 2011, Sean Brooks eloquently discussed the oppression he and his partner face in a gay binational marriage. What was particularly striking was the contradiction that their marriage being recognized on a state but not a federal level caused, “…From what I gathered, as long as we lived (and died) in New York, he (or I) could have divorce rights, inheritance rights, and make medical decisions … [But] I cannot petition for Steven to have a green card like any other American can do in my situation, so what good is it to know that we are protected by state laws regarding medical decisions and inheritance rights?”
The overturn of DOMA lessened this contradiction. Now that Sean and Steve are secure in the knowledge that Steven won’t be deported they can be assured that they will continue to enjoy the benefits of marriage such as the right to make medical decisions for each other. What’s more, the 24, 700 other binational gay couples in the United States can feel more secure, too.
The post New Yorker’s Deportation Halted Minutes After Supreme Court Strikes Down DOMA appeared first on ANIMAL.
Around the turn of the 20th century, we didn't have drones or space shuttles and satellites or even a whole lot of airplanes to help us capture aerial views of the land, but one man rigged a device out of 17 Conyne kites, piano wire, and a 49-lb camera that got the job done. His company's motto was: "The hitherto impossible in photography is our specialty." (Check out some of his other camera contraptions at Imagining Resource.) [ more › ]
A 14-year-old boy told police he was sexually assaulted Tuesday night in a South Street Seaport bathroom. [ more › ]
Just a few days after news circulated that AOL was bringing its own RSS reader to the web, the company launched on Monday its response to the nearly defunct Google Reader.
AOL Reader — which bears the tagline "all your favorite websites, in one place" for both desktop and mobile devices — aims to make reading content from around the Internet easier, engaging and more social. It comes with a clean, organized interface and is extremely intuitive to use.
It's fast, too. In fact, it imported my full Google Reader subscription library in about four minutes. It also provides helpful instructions on how to transfer feeds from Google Reader to AOL Reader. Read more...
More about Mobile, Aol, Rss, Google Reader, and Tech
Marissa Mayer attempted Tuesday to walk investors through Yahoo's new products and overall business strategy in her first shareholder meeting as CEO of the company, but one investor appeared less interested in what she said than how she looked.
"I have 2,000 shares. I'm Greek and I'm a dirty old man, and you look attractive," the investor said to Mayer during a Q&A session at the shareholders meeting. He then proceeded to ask a question about Yahoo's dividends.
Mayer chose to ignore the man's flirtatious statement and another Yahoo executive proceeded to respond to the question about dividends. Read more...
More about Yahoo, Stocks, Marissa Mayer, and Business
Ah, nature. The birds are chirping, the sun is shining ... and your crappy Wi-Fi signal is preventing you from uploading a really clever Facebook status.
It's hard enough for your Wi-Fi connection to reach the four corners of your house, let alone the backyard and beyond. To take your computing to the distance, you'll need to seriously boost your Wi-Fi signal.
The following products, hacks and tips will ensure your Wi-Fi keeps you connected no matter where you are.SEE ALSO: 5 Free Android Apps for Tethering
If you’re hoping to connect remotely, say on a camping trip, where there's no Wi-Fi in sight, you’ll need to address one of two solutions: Enable your wireless plan to turn your phone into a hotspot, or get a Mi-Fi hotspot. These pocket-sized mobile hotspots connect multiple devices through your cellphone carrier. The device itself costs up to $50 with a two-year contract; add in data charges ($20-30 per month) for an expensive but convenient option. Read more...
Amazon's streaming Instant Video service is adding a few more children's programs, including past seasons of Calillou, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood and Wild Kratts, as part of an expanded, multi-year licensing agreement with PBS.
The shows are available to subscribers of Amazon's $79-per-year Prime service, as well as Amazon's FreeTime Unlimited program for Kindle Fire owners.
In addition, Amazon Prime subscribers now have access to more documentaries by Ken Burns, Nova science videos and shows from PBS's Masterpiece division, including Downton Abbey. Amazon says it will have exclusive streaming subscription rights to the British period drama later this year (i.e., Netflix and Hulu will soon no longer have it). Read more...
More about Amazon, Pbs, Amazon Instant Video, Business, and Media
The Supreme Court decided to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act on Wednesday, marking a historic victory for gay rights activists
Immediately afterwards, supporters took to Twitter and Facebook to celebrate the decision, including politicians like Bill Clinton and President Obama and celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen DeGeneres and Neil Patrick Harris
Several brands were also quick to show their support for the decision by posting to Twitter and Facebook, including Gap, Bonobos, Martha Stewart Living, MasterCard and others. Read more...
More about Marketing, Gay Marriage, Supreme Court, Business, and Facebook
The $99 OUYA game console hit store shelves Tuesday, months after a mega-successful Kickstarter that got backers and developers excited about open-source game production. The OUYA team said they have learned tremendously from developer feedback and improved the console prior to retail launch. But is the hackable Android console ready for mass market?
SEE ALSO: 10 Great Android Multiplayer Games
Maybe, depending on the audience. While the OUYA demonstrates versatility when plied with a little elbow grease from the user, it may not be a plug-and-play system for everyone. In this review, I spent a lot of time with the retail boxed OUYA, after having played with the Kickstarter backer unit, which the OUYA team referred to as "preview mode." Read more...
More about Review, Gaming, Android, Features, and Kickstarter
I am in a full-on state of denial about the approaching deadline to move my news-reading off Google Reader, Google’s industry-leading RSS reader. I don’t want it to happen, although I know I am powerless to stop it.
Google Reader is how I begin my workday. It is the first web application I open, and one I turn to multiple times throughout the day. My list of feeds is longer than the Amazon. It traverses breaking news, tech updates, press releases, cultural phenomena, science and space updates and even byzantine patents. It’s a perfect reflection of my interests and world view.
More about Google, Rss, Google Reader, Tech, and Apps Software
It must suck to be a celebrity who looks like a fictional character that wasn’t actually played by you — like, I bet at this point Nicolai Coster-Waldau wants to throttle everyone who’s ever asked him about being Prince Charming from Shrek. So I understand why Ellen Page is kinda annoyed already that everyone’s noticed what a striking resemblance she bears to the 14-year-old Ellie from The Last of Us. Now she’s suggesting that they intentionally ripped off her likeness, which she really doesn’t appreciate. Poor Ellie can’t catch a break, huh?
Ellie’s voice is actually played by Ashley Johnson, who you might remember as the cute blonde waitress from The Avengers – or, if you’re kinda pretentious, as Margaret from Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing. But seriously, go see it. Naughty Dog may have originally based Ellie on Ellen Page and subsequently changed her design around to resemble Ashley Johnson a little bit more, but it’s still pretty dang close. In fact, I kind of think the new Ellie looks more like Page, weirdly. It’s something about her nose being more upturned.
New Ellie’s on the right… we think? Nobody labels their comparison images and I’m bad at faces.
Page is currently attached to another Sony exclusive game, Beyond: Two Souls, and was recently participating in aReddit AMA to promote her most recent film, The East, when IGN reporter Lucy O’Brien asked if she’d have taken the role of Ellie if approached, she replied,
I guess I should be flattered that they ripped off my likeness, but I am actually acting in a video game called Beyond Two Souls, so it was not appreciated.
Considering that she’s probably getting nothing but “Hey I loved you in The Last of Us” tweets all day long, I can see how she wouldn’t find it flattering. Odds are she won’t take legal action against Sony, but you never know — Twitter can be pretty annoying with this kind of thing.
Meanwhile in related links
Not everyone likes to admit it, but the real purpose of a high school reunion is to see how much better you’re doing than all those chumps with which you graduated. It looks like everyone from the Henning High School class of ’88 was shown up this year, because their former classmate is astronaut Karen Nyberg, and she “attended” the reunion via video link from the International Space Station. It’s hard to brag about your job to someone floating 200 miles above you.
While connected through video, Nyberg showed her classmates around her home on the International Space Station, and even gave everyone a view of the Sun coming up over the Earth. The children of Nyberg’s classmates also got to ask questions about life in space. WDAY in Fargo, North Dakota has video clips of the interaction, and Nyberg even showed interest in her non-astronaut classmates.
Andrea Rogers, one of Nyberg’s former classmates, compared the event to a family reunion. She said her classmates were like extended siblings, so having Nyberg there, even if by video link, made it feel complete.
Since Chris Hadfield left the ISS we were worried there wouldn’t be anyone in space to do fun stuff like video chat into their high school reunion, so it’s great to see Nyberg taking up the mantle of the Super Cool Astronaut. Not that anyone could ever replace Commander Hadfield in our hearts, but there’s always more room for someone in space doing interesting things.
Meanwhile in related links
A $99 dollar open-source Android console has already sold out with two major retailers. However, OUYA can still be picked up through some stores at the time of writing.
The console’s development was funded through Kickstarter where it is still in second place on the all-time fundraising chart after attracting more than $8.5 million of donations.
130 games are already available to download for the console. Any developer can write a game for the machine (or port their existing titles). Developers can set prices and get 70 percent of the revenue, though every game must have a free demo version.
Though the OUYA lacks the capabilities of big-name consoles, it’s a relatively powerful machine with a quad-core processor and support for full HD. It has Ethernet, Wi-Fi, micro-USB and HDMI connections. If you plug a PC into the device, you can get direct access to tools for developing your own games. There are no restrictions on accessing any of the ports if you are feeling brave and want to adapt the hardware for other uses.
As well as games, the device supports other applications. Among these are support for Onlive, the PC game streaming service, so it’s possible to play some major release games. Naturally the quality of your connection is an issue here, but early reviews have shown people using Onlive without too many glitches.
The console costs $99 with one controller included. A second controller is a rather hefty $49.
While Kickstarter donators had already received their machines, OUYA came to retailers for the first time this week. Amazon and GameStop have both sold out at the moment, though Best Buy and Target still have stock.
The post Hubble Captures Face-On Image of Messier 61 appeared first on SciTech Daily.
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"Even as technology reduces burdens and eases struggles, the sum of humanity's limits-and its eternal quest to exceed them-is what defines us as humans and makes life meaningful."
Hover over the bold words to see the real science behind the stories.
* * *Volunteer firefighter Scott Lynch's next book, The Republic Of Thieves, will hit shelves in October.
Pickle-jar technology hasn't moved an inch in nearly three hundred years, and the cap on the jar in my hands won't move either. The kids find it hilarious, and their fingers fly above the table as they sketch ghostly images for my benefit. My visual augments display their bright illusions in the air around me-there's the framework of an unlikely Rube Goldberg device, along with a caricature of me caught in the grip of a huge anthropomorphic pickle jar about to twist my head off.
I grin and fire back with a double nod of my head, the signal for the house's backbone computer to upload the week's chore schedule to their visual augments. While they flick their eyes over the words of Parental Writ (invisible to me), I finally manage to pop the jar open. A satisfying scent of brine and mustard fills the air.
Dinner is classic American comfort food from my childhood: tomato salad, garlic naan, flash-fried wasabi chicken. The pickled cucumbers, bell peppers, and okra are from our garden, laid down in rows beside the solar tarps.
The backbone comp banishes the light sketches and seals the family's network connections behind emergency-only courtesy walls. The outside world goes away for the day's big formal meal, and the assorted information scrolls and data overlays behind everyone's eyes begin to unroll gibberish. For those networked since toddlerhood, total disconnection is anything but restful, so the backbone comp temporarily supplies meaningless data that can be ignored. Enwombed in soothing white information, I smile and pass the pickle jar around.
* * *Nancy Kress lives in Seattle. Her book After the Fall, Before the Fall, During The Fall won the 2012 Nebula for Best Novella
The monitor alarm woke me at 5 a.m.: problem in a desalinization plant supplying fresh water to New York. The robocrew couldn't repair it, and I couldn't fix it remotely. Groggily, cursing the AI that is always promised but never quite arrives, I boarded the maglev train.
It was crowded with people going to the floating-pavilion beaches over lower Manhattan, with all its crafts, hologram entertainments, musicians, specialty cooks, sex workers, and VR parlors. The three-day workweek gave everybody so much free time that half of all jobs are leisure-related-no other way to create full employment. My grandfather hated the Uniform Wage Act, which enforces equal wages for everybody so that even the CEO of Asteroid Mining makes the same salary as I do. I used to tell Grandpa, "Would a revolution have been better? Because that's what we'd have got if we didn't restructure the economy and curtail population growth." He could never see it, but the new system works.
The desalinization plant contained only bots: operations bots, cleaning bots, repair bots, security bots, all built atom-by-atom with nanotech. I was the first human on-site in three months. After I found and fixed the software problem, I stopped at a black-market place to buy my daughter a genemod pupcat. Technically illegal-but so cute! When it barked, its implanted software translated the bark into words: "Pet me!" Half a week's salary, but Cassie will love it. After all, what's money for?
* * *Ian Tregillis consorts with scientists, writers, and other disreputable types. His novel Necessary Evil came out in April.
Join the NERE revolution! Clean water is a fundamental human need that unites our far-flung species: those of us who remain on Earth, those colonizing the steroid belt, and even those en route to the stars. But the supply of clean water is not limitless. This is as true on Mars, Ceres, and Tau Ceti 3 as it is on Earth.
Now a revolution in resource acquisition and management, made possible by Nanotechnological Environmental Remediation Engineering (NERE), could alleviate water woes. Since 2145, NERE techniques have cleansed almost a billion gallons of water throughout the inner and outer solar system. The power of NERE is its flexibility: An array of nanobots can cleanse a natural watershed, the body of water it drains into, and the artificial life-support ecology that mimics it on a molecule-by-molecule basis.
Our expert engineers tailor each application to the problem at hand, designing bots for specific environments (including specific pollutants), overseeing their application, and monitoring their deactivation when the work is completed. And because the design work requires high-level predictive modeling to anticipate and eliminate problematic interactions, NERE technologies have always made extensive use of the most advanced artificially intelligent algorithms. More than 20 percent of the growth in the AI sector over the past thirty years has stemmed directly from advances spurred by NERE applications.
* * *Karl Schroeder is a writer and Futurist based in Toronto. His novel Lockstep will be published next spring.
Greetings, job seekers! Today's jobs post includes some pretty exciting opportunities! Here's what we've got for you as of Monday, June 10, 2030:
Kim Stanley Robinson lives in Davis, California. His latest Book, 2312, won the 2012 Nebula for Best Novel
Many problems in travel around the solar system were solved when asteroids were adapted to the task. Thousands of ovoid asteroids were hollowed out so that their insides were empty cylinders, and then they were set spinning on their long axes to create a gravity effect inside. Crews and passengers live at one g, well protected from cosmic radiation, and move in orbits around the solar system like giant ocean liners. They never slow down, and catching up to one in a little ferry can be a crushing experience, as your reporter recently learned.
Each asteroid contains a particular biome, filled with the plants and animals from particular landscapes back on Earth. Some are more aquarium than terrarium. If species have been mixed to make a mongrel biome, as has happened on Earth since the first living creatures migrated from one ecosystem to another, the result is called an Ascension, after Ascension Island in the South Atlantic. The island was bare rock until HMS Beagle landed there, and Darwin himself planted a variety of plants which have since prospered.
By a nice coincidence, your reporter's recent voyage was on the Wegener, an Ascension asteroid composed of plants and animals from West Africa and eastern Brazil. It is a beautiful space, highly recommended, but all the terraria are gorgeous in their own ways-in effect, floating works of landscape art.
Take a trip on one and see!
* * *Elizabeth Bear has written nearly 100 short stories and more than 20 novels, of which the most recent is Shattered Pillars.
The repair completed, I pause in the web of lines connecting the rotating habitat of the Kalpana Chawla to the vast, filmy glory of its solar sail and imagine the space ahead. My patch is all but invisible; a job well done. Drones carry out much of this work, but some is better-well, easier-done by human hands.
When I pass through the air lock and unseal after my space walk, I notice the smell. Space has a distinct and pleasing scent. I can't detect it when I'm outside-I'm sealed in, and the vacuum is sealed out. But when I reenter, there it is, clinging to the skin of my suit. A hot, metallic reek-earlier astronauts, who had been on planets and eaten meat, called it "steaky"-lies over the familiar laboratory-machine shop-kitchen-locker-room smells of the habitat.
I rack my suit. The lock is coded to my DNA. It's a proof against vandalism, not theft. Suits are tailored to each member of the bioengineered crew, and my suit-manufactured for someone with a prehensile tail and a hand on each limb-wouldn't be much use to a swimmer or a spider. But some of the younger crew members, born in space, are disaffected with the idea of generations spent traveling to a destination they will never see. Some want to turn back. Others want to become fully adapted to space and give up entirely on living at the bottom of gravity wells.
I can see their point; I have a hard time imagining giving up this infinite voyage for the limits of the shore.
* * *Kathleen Ann Goonan teaches at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her novel This Shared Dream came out in 2011.
From my breeze-washed balcony, I see individual flats hanging like lily pads from shoots, and conduits that carry vehicles, pedestrians, and utilities wind through a wildlife-rich arboreal forest. Vibrant, diverse communities flourish at different levels and cross-pollinate, a lively frisson of arts, science, and emerging technologies.
I am Alima, a bioarchitect for the city of Arcady, an engineered habitat of 250,000 grown from a nanotech seed. It's 07:30 on a Tuesday and it's time to go to work.
I don my IMP (interface modulating profile), a bracelet linking me to the city. Arcadians harbor nanoparticles that monitor health, sharpen memory, transmit information, and, some argue, change our very identity. My neural profile has made me synesthetic. Smell, sound, vision, taste, and touch mingle, expanding my design abilities.
I print and don the day's winged bodysuit, an ultralight second-skin prosthesis that executes intent as naturally as my own hands, and activate the wings with a thought. I catch the northeast Drift, where a new commercial district is planned. Textures, light, and structural challenges-a tor, a river, the prevailing winds-form tastes I shape with my hands. Tantalizing smells of grilled, spiced food and the bossa nova of street musicians infuse the scene. With a touch of finger to glove, I record that and a thousand other concepts. Later, I will synthesize them in a seed incorporating the mathematics of Arcady and present it to the community for feedback.
* * *James Corey is the pseudonym of authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. Corey's new book, Abaddon's Gate, arrived in June.
In the Apollo program, we focused on technical problems like packing the electronics and propulsion systems into something light enough for our rocket technology to actually get off the ground. Those were enormous challenges, but the biology of space travel didn't get nearly as much attention. We put our astronauts into claustrophobic spaces and just sort of hoped that flying in microgravity wouldn't break them too badly.
Over the years, we got pretty good with rockets and computers and materials technology-we could easily get to space. The big challenge we faced was then staying there.
To achieve a successful space-faring society, we had to cure cancer. Space is such a stressful, high-radiation environment that addressing cells that get knocked out of round by ginormous blasts of high-energy particles was an absolute necessity. We were spoiled by the Earth's magnetosphere. Once we got outside of it, we faced the constant danger of tiny little bullets going near c that break you at the molecular level. Biological science, specifically in terms of genetic repair, is essential to our survival among the stars.
* * *Physicist Vandana Singh's story "Sailing the Antarsa" appears in the anthology The Other Half of the Sky published in April.
The busy streets meander-they are made for walking. Robot-cars on the few broad avenues are used when the destination is more important than the journey. The buildings-thick, reinforced adobe-stretch to twenty stories tall. Even in summer they don't need air-conditioning, as rooftop and vertical gardens cool them. The skyweb runs from tower to tower, strung on self-healing, biomimetic cables. The elevator rises above the spicy smells wafting from restaurants and the sounds of conversation from theater doors, to jasmine scents and birdsong in the garden. There, the residents harvest gourds while I wait for the skycar. On my flight across town I can see the giant petals of eight sun stations, capturing solar energy via artificial photosynthesis.
Twenty-seven farm towers feed the city-because of them, wilderness is returning to now-abandoned megafarms beyond the perimeter, where birds flit above an artificial wetland that also serves as a natural wastewater-treatment plant. Everything is connected via the sensorweb-buildings tell their stories of energy production or vegetable yield, and trees boast of the carbon dioxide they have cleaned from the air, or the family of monkeys that have moved in.
This article originally appeared in the July 2013 issue of Popular Science. See the rest of the magazine here.
    
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Arabidopsis thaliana, such as these, perform arithmetic, a new study found. This photo shows two healthy Arabidopsis plants and one failing one.
Kirsten Bomblies via the National Institute of General Medical Sciences' Biomedical Beat
Need some way to persuade your fourth-grader to do her math homework? Tell her even plants can perform the kind of arithmetic she sees in her textbook. (Okay, I don't know if that's exactly motivational.)
One new study has found that a simple plant, called Arabidopsis thaliana, is able to perform arithmetic to decide at what rate it should consume starch at night, Reuters reported. Once the sun sets, plants are no longer able to make new food until morning, so they have to ration out what they've stored during the day. The Arabidopsis researchers studied were even able to deal with an unexpected early night, Reuters reported.
The study will be published tomorrow in the journal eLife. Read a little more now at Reuters, or read all you want tomorrow on eLife, which publishes all of its articles for anybody to read for free.
[Reuters]
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