Bartholomew Says Hello June 22, 2010
Posted by Miss Weird Scientist in Animals, Brain Power, Deep Sea, Easy As Pie, Environment, Evolution, Ocean.Tags: blobfish, extinction, fish
6 comments
If this blobfish could talk, I think it would ask for us humans to give it some space. Maybe then it would have reason to smile. Credit: Greenpeace
Okay well, I made up the name Bartholomew and this interesting creature can’t really speak. But if it could, I imagine it might say something like “Please leave me alone!” So, just what is this odd, slimy thing and why would it want us to stay away?
Meet A Blobfish
With the formal name of Psychrolutes marcidus, the blobfish is definitely not the world’s prettiest fish. It is, however, on the verge of extinction according to researchers at the University of York in England. For blobfish, home is 800 meters into the ocean, just off the southeastern coast of Australia.
But unfortunately, excessive fishing with nets along the bottom of the ocean has jeopardized the well-being of the blobfish. It starts with overfishing at less deep and murky depths. After reducing populations up there, not much is left.
To compensate, we do something called bottom trawling, which takes us even deeper into the ocean. Here, we are fishing along the sea floor. It’s bad news for Bartholomew and all the other blobfish down there. No wonder poor Bartholomew looks so sad.
These blobfish may look like your grumpy Great Aunt Martha but they're probably unhappy for another reason. Overfishing is threatening their livelihood. Credit: NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center.
A Day In The Life Of Bartholomew
Just humour me here and let’s keep the name. So what’s life like for Bartholomew? You won’t see it for yourself because Bartholomew lives deep in the ocean, far away from our eyes.
That peculiar body serves a purpose, letting Bartholomew sort of float above the sea floor. Instead of using a bunch of energy to move, Bartholomew keeps movement easy and light.
How big is this body? A blobfish usually grows to approximately 12 inches (30 centimeters). In fact, I just picked up a comic book I will soon be reviewing here on the blog, and it’s about the same length as a blobfish.
A Floating Feeder
And boy oh boy, feeding is an interesting activity for the blobfish. While you or I take an active role in eating – we open our mouths and put food inside – the blobfish does it another way. When Bartholomew feeds, it means just drifting along, swallowing food particles that float in its mouth.
Ugliness Comes In Many Forms
Bartholomew is yet another example of the consequences from overfishing. Without adequate regulations around deep sea trawling, our ‘hello’ to Bartholomew may soon be a ‘goodbye’ instead. While his appearance may be ugly, some might say that the actions of humans are far uglier.
del.icio.us 
digg 
reddit
Too Young And Too Much June 19, 2010
Posted by Miss Weird Scientist in Alcohol and Illegal Drugs, Brain Power, Human Body, Nutrition and Health, Think About It.Tags: alcohol, binge drinking, brain, teens
5 comments
One drink. Two drinks. Three drinks….seven drinks. Does this sound like you each weekend? It isn’t news that teens can be binge drinkers. Even the wicked hangover the next day isn’t necessarily enough to stop teens – or adults – from going wild on booze. But a new study suggests that binge drinking has some effects on teens that we won’t necessarily see in adults. To understand what researchers discovered, we have to delve into the brain. The monkey brain, that is.
Binge drinkers consume lots of alcohol in a short period of time with the aim of getting drunk. Does this sound like you or someone you know?
Lasting Brain Damage
To find out what binge drinking does to the brain, a group of researchers led by Chitra Mandyam of the Scripps Research Institute in California looked at how the drinking affected normal nerve cell development in the hippocampus, a part of the brain responsible for long-term memory. They used monkeys, an animal with brain development that is very similar to humans. Their work was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Researchers gave four adolescent monkeys alcoholic drinks for an hour each day over nearly a year. A couple of months later, the animals were put down so that researchers could compare their brains to monkeys that had not been given alcohol. So, what did they learn?
The binge drinking monkeys had 50 to 90 percent fewer stem cells in their hippocampus compared to the other monkeys. This could leave monkeys struggling with memory and spatial skills, plus loads of other important functions in the brain.
You’re Not Alone
Just how common is binge drinking? In a European study last year, Britain came in as one of the worst offenders. More than half of teens had been binge drinking in the last month. For the United States, around 11 million teens drink and approximately 7 million are binge drinkers. According to MADD, Canadian statistics are very similar.
Getting Support
Binge drinking is harmful at any age and can hurt adults too. But this study suggests that its effects in teens can be especially dangerous because of teens’ brains being quite vulnerable during these years. Fortunately, there are ways to get confidential help, whether it’s through a doctor, substance abuse centre or even a counsellor at school. If you feel like your drinking is a problem or you’re worried about someone you know, talk to a trusted adult.
del.icio.us digg reddit
Humans Bite Harder Than Vampires April 21, 2010
Posted by Miss Weird Scientist in Book Reviews, Brain Power, Forensic Science, Human Body, Think About It.Tags: vampires, history, forensics
2 comments
Tiko is wide-eyed with fright! What is scaring him? Could it be a vampire?
When National Geographic asked me to review their new book called Vampire Forensics, I had to ask myself if I had the guts to do it! As a self-proclaimed scaredy-cat, I wasn’t sure if learning about the origins of vampires would be something my timid self could take. Worse still was what happened when I attempted to grab Tiko for comfort. Once he heard me say “vampire,” he raced into the wardrobe and refused to emerge.
Like many people, I’m fascinated by popular vampire culture, from entertaining television shows to famous books such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The question that remains is – where did it all start and how did it become what it is today? And maybe the second question I had when I started reading Vampire Forensics was whether this book was a bite I could handle. Let’s find out!
Disease, Death And Burial
Researched and edited by Mark Jenkins, Vampire Forensics traces the history of vampire culture. Early on in the book, Jenkins writes about a mysterious, 16th century skull discovered in Venice that was thought to be the remains of a female vampire. The skull was buried with a brick jammed in its mouth, which people thought would stop the vampire from rising up to feed on others. In other areas of the book, diseases such as the plague or tuberculosis are linked to vampire myths, mostly due to signs of the disease such as paleness and the fact victims would waste away. Jenkins also goes on to merge ideas about burial and death with vampire culture.
While I expected a lot on forensics, this part of the book fell short. Instead, I read about all kinds of folklore that were scattered together without the structure a reader needs to make sense of it all. Where historical facts were relayed, these suggested a possible link to vampires, without the real forensic guts to strengthen the connection. It felt a bit like the writer was grasping at straws by choosing many random stories and trying to tie them in with vampire culture.
Poor Tiko is afraid of vampires. Perhaps if I read Vampire Forensics to him, he will learn they are not real. Now, I just have to figure out how to get him out of the wardrobe!
Still, there are heaps of fun tales and facts that kept the book interesting right to the end. I did shudder at some of the gory bits but in a sense, this is part of the appeal when it comes to vampires. People like to be afraid and they like the intrigue of the unknown.
Can You Handle It?
Who will like this book? Well, it’s not a book for my younger readers and even then, will probably only interest a select group of my teen readers. The graphic prose and macabre tales are gruesome at times. But for those who perhaps truly do fear vampires, this book brings that fear to a much less frightening reality. We learn how events that are most definitely of the human kind fueled the myths and fantasy that make up vampire culture today. While the book didn’t give much of a vampire bite, it left some strong human tooth marks. Ironically, I think readers may be left fearing humans far more than vampires.
del.icio.us digg reddit
How To Be An Assassin February 21, 2010
Posted by Miss Weird Scientist in Animals, Brain Power, Insects, Think About It.Tags: assassin bug, prey, spiders
7 comments
Credit: Video generously provided by Anne Wignall of Macquarie University.
Imagine you’re a hungry insect. To get your next meal, you need to be a true assassin, using stealthy tactics to capture your prey. Well if you were an assassin bug, then your plan might read like this:
1. Slowly approach your prey
2. Tap the web before each step
3. Bounce around a bit
4. Grab some web strings
5. POUNCE
It might sound like a strange plan but it works! The assassin bug does all these bizarre movements to trick the spider into thinking it has an insect caught in its web. Once the spider is sure that it has its next meal, it scurries over to the assassin bug. But too bad for the spider, it will now become a tasty meal for this sneaky insect. To find out more about this peculiar bug, I chatted with Anne Wignall of Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, who had some of her recent work published in the Journal of Ethology. Anne already knew that some bugs would hunt down spiders but she wanted to find out just how they did it! Anne explained to me:
When I heard that there was a bug that seemed to lure spiders toward them, I was instantly fascinated because it seems like such a crazy thing to do, when spiders are such dangerous predators themselves.
In fact, there is actually one more step in the assassin bug’s plan, which could come in at number six. Once the assassin bug grabs the spider, it sometimes will tap the spider with its antennae. Researchers think this might be a way to hypnotize the spider, making it harder to escape.
A World Of Assassins
The assassin bug in the video above is a species known as Stenolemus bituberus. But if you thought it was the only one, think again! Anne describes just how busy our world really is when you get outside:
There’s also lots and lots of other assassin bug species and insects that use stalking, deception, luring and other cool tactics to hunt other invertebrates, and we’re finding more all the time.
So this means there are way more bugs out there with incredible, assassin-like tactics to capture their prey. For example, Todd Blackledge of the University of Akron in Ohio has been investigating how wasps hunt spiders. He found that adult female wasps will capture spiders and sting them. Ouch! But that isn’t all. The wasp then lays an egg on the spider, which allows the wasp larva to eat the spider, helping it grow into an adult.
Your Garden: A Battleground For Bugs
Now that you’ve checked out the video above, you might actually be able to find one of these creepy crawlies in your garden. Anne suggests that if you live along the east coast of Australia, you should explore the trees and webs in your garden, where you might find an assassin bug battling it out with a spider. Just be glad that while those hungry bugs fight it out, you don’t have to go through anything quite so dramatic when you want to have lunch. In fact, make yourself a nice sandwich, grab your camera, then see what you can find in your backyard!
del.icio.us digg reddit
The Return Of Bed Bugs – Smarter Ones January 13, 2010
Posted by Miss Weird Scientist in Animals, Evolution, Insects, Tough Stuff.Tags: bed bugs, bites, DDT, infestation, pests
5 comments
Your mattress may be home to more than your pillow or favorite stuffed animal. It could be the home of bed bugs!
The title reads like a horror movie but for those who have battled it out with bed bugs, it makes a lot of sense. Others might think that ‘don’t let the bed bugs bite’ was just some bedtime line their parents used as a cute joke.
In fact, let’s see now who knew that bed bugs really existed. Try out the poll below (be honest!).
Bed Bug Basics
Bed bugs are small, reddish brown insects that feed on human blood, which engorges them and makes them bigger. They are from the insect family Cimicidae and common bed bugs are formally called Cimex lectularius. They tend to be most active at night, coming out of the cracks in walls or bed frames and other hiding places to get their bloody grub. They can travel in suitcases, so hotels are a hot spot for bed bugs as well as other places that see plenty of people coming and going. Cornell University has an ace fact sheet to give you the lowdown on bed bugs. You can also have some fun playing around on Pest World for Kids, a website created by the National Pest Management Association (NPMA). But let’s get back to finding out why these wee pesky critters have returned and what makes them smarter today.
Gone But Not For Long
Here we have a bed bug hiding in a wood bed frame. The bed bug looks like it's having a Sunday snooze but I bet it's getting rest so it can hunt for fresh blood! Image credit: Thomas Oldani
Bed bugs were once nearly destroyed in our modern environment, where the use of chemicals such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane – otherwise more easily known as DDT – kept these beasties at bay. DDT is a pesticide that is either very useful or very toxic, depending on who you ask or what journal study you read. Ultimately though, it was banned.
The Good And Bad Of DDT
DDT was used to keep mosquitoes under control, mostly because they spread malaria. It was used to keep lice numbers down too. So what happened when it was banned? As somewhat of a side effect of its use, DDT had kept bed bug numbers down. After it was banned, a bunch of other chemicals were used to treat bed bug infestations. The bed bugs, however, got smart and developed resistance to some of these chemicals. That resulted in a big UH OH for society as bed bug infestations are now on a major rise! Scientists from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Korea’s Seoul National University decided that it would be important to find out more about resistant strains of bed bugs in New York. The work was published in the Journal of Entomology. Let’s see what they discovered, shall we?
When researchers got busy observing bed bugs in New York, they found these pests had mutations in their nerve cells. What does this mean? It means they are resistant to the chemicals used to kill them. Where the chemicals would previously have paralyzed and killed the bed bugs, the mutations mean that bed bugs are now outsmarting their opponents – us!
Let The Bed Bug Collecting Begin!
To get the scoop on bed bug resistance, researchers took a sample of easily controllable ones from Florida and compared these to ones from New York that were harder to deal with. So just how resistant were these little bugs?
Look at this partially engorged bed bug. It probably looks similar to the bed bugs in Milan after they feasted on my blood. Oh, and a fun fact of the day: the Italian word for bed bugs is cimice dei letti.
Researchers found that the bed bugs in New York had up to 264 times the resistance to the modern chemical used to kill bed bugs – deltamethrin. If we picture a nerve cell, it has these little sodium channels on the outer membrane bit. This is where the flurry of nerve impulses come to life. In the New York bed bugs, this nervous system mutation means they can keep feeding long after those Florida ones have been exterminated.
Grossaroo
When I was in grade 3, I made up the word ‘grossaroo’ to describe anything yucky. This word is fitting in the case of what happened to me recently when I spent a month working at an agency in Milan. After a few nights at what seemed to be a nice corporate flat, I began to get loads of itchy, inflamed red bites. I awoke one night to find a flattened-looking bug moving across my otherwise clean, crisp white sheets.
I yelped and quickly squished it with my slipper, only to see it turn into a smattering of blood, which it just took from its recent feeding of my body! Just after, I saw another one. By morning, my bed looked like a crime scene with all those splats of blood and bugs. Eeek! Fortunately, I got moved to a new place and had everything washed. Hopefully, those Milan bed bugs weren’t too hard for the building owners to get rid of, unless they’re resistant beasts like those New York ones.
Bed Bug Warrior To The Rescue
So now you know (if you didn’t already!) that bed bugs do exist. Not only that, but they’re continually evolving to get smarter, doing so in ways that make it harder to get rid of them. For now, you can be smart by being extra cautious when traveling. Always check for signs of bed bugs around the mattress and furniture. Since not everyone shows bites from these little pests, prevention will remain the best line of defense. And while it’s not necessarily smart, it sure is fun when checking for bed bugs to yell “YOU’RE GOING DOWN!” If your parents ask what you’re doing, you can explain that you’re the self-appointed family warrior here to protect everyone from bed bugs.
Image credits: Unless otherwise specified, images courtesy of the National Pest Management Association.
del.icio.us digg reddit
Science Gets Pretty November 30, 2009
Posted by Miss Weird Scientist in Brain Power, Easy As Pie, Human Body.Tags: science and beauty, science contest, skin
4 comments
Science can be a lot of things – including being pretty as I found out in a recent contest here on the blog. I asked readers to tell me about the weird and wacky science things they had seen or learned about, whether that was at school or on their own.
While I was impressed with all of the entries, the winning one I liked because it was about everyday science. It really represents something simple but still very random and cool. And, as I mentioned, something pretty – a beauty aid, in fact! Maybe best of all, it’s about discovery, one of my favorite aspects of science.
The winning entry goes to Michelle of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her prize is the new Seeing is Believing book by Ripley’s Believe It or Not. Here’s part of what Michelle had to say:
You know the aspirin for headaches? My mum crushes it up with water and puts it on her face. It’s weird but she says it helps her spots. She said if I get spots it will get rid of them. She doesn’t know why it works but says her friends use it too and they told her about it.
The Science Of Aspirin
Hmmm – so what is it in aspirin that would potentially help skin? It’s possibly the ingredient acetylsalicylic acid. Many cosmetic face creams and products today use salicylic acid to exfoliate the face and improve skin tone and clarity. How this has become the trendy skin treatment is beyond me though!
Careful With Your Skin
I wouldn’t personally recommend you use aspirin on your face – mostly because it’s not meant for your skin and could be irritating to people, especially if your skin is sensitive. But it’s still a neat example of how science fits into daily life. Thanks Michelle and enjoy your book!
del.icio.us digg reddit
Don’t Believe Everything You See September 15, 2009
Posted by Miss Weird Scientist in Brain Power, Easy As Pie, Environment, Human Body, Ocean, Psychology and Behavior, Technology.Tags: Ripley's, science books, Believe It or Not, Seeing is Believing
add a comment
Tiko looks like he's immersed in the new Ripley's book. But looks can be deceiving! We all know dogs can't read. Hmmm, perhaps Tiko is captivated by the cheddar cheese carving on page 130 of the book. Tiko loves cheese!
Should you believe everything you see? Well, in the case of the Ripley’s book that I was recently sent to review, you can believe most of it! The new Seeing is Believing book by Ripley’s Believe It or Not is a bright, colorful book with a rather creepy but intriguing eyeball on the cover.
Over the course of the last few weeks, my favorite magazines – BBC Focus, Scientific American and New Scientist – along with various other science books strewn around have been glanced at and quickly dismissed by friends and family who pop over (how cheeky!). Yet when they see the glossy Ripley’s cover, virtually all of them do what I might begin to now coin the Ripley’s Rxn, which involves a lingering look, followed by a gleeful exclamation of “Ooooh cool.”
What does this tell me?
No matter what age, people like weird stuff and they like simplicity. Ripley’s manages to do both and do it creatively in a way that speaks to young and old alike. My excited thirty-one-year-old friend enjoyed the book as did his nine-year-old son.
After all that pretending to read, Tiko awaits a liver treat for his hard work. I'll bet he's thinking that being an actor sure isn't easy!
Just how much of the new Ripley’s book is believable though? While the publishers do put a disclaimer that they aren’t responsible for the accuracy of the book, it’s still reasonably expected that the tidbits of information are true. Not so. I spotted a headline titled Glandular Fever. Of course, my UK readers will likely recognize this as the term for what we call infectious mononucleosis or mono here in North America. It’s caused by the Epstein Barr virus and because it can be transmitted through saliva, it’s often called the kissing disease as well.
Expecting to read about mono, I was surprised to read about a woman who had an imbalance of hormones that caused her to experience excessive hair growth all over her body. My sense is that Glandular Fever was meant to be a catchy title but nobody realized it was the term for another health condition.
Still, a minor inaccuracy or few doesn’t at all break the fantastic impact and enjoyment of this quirky book, but it’s perhaps a reminder to kids and adults that there is a lot more to science than meets the eye.
Find out more at the Ripley’s website.
A Weird Science Contest: Win The New Ripley’s Book!
I like contests. Do you? If so, I want to invite my readers to send an email telling me about the grossest or weirdest thing they’ve ever seen in science. It could be something from science class or maybe just a creepy picture of a bug. If you do send a picture, make sure you include a description of why you think it’s so weird! Anyone aged ten to sixteen can enter. The contest closes on the 15th of October, 2009.
Send your stories and pictures to mina@weirdscience.ca and I’ll share the winning entry in November on the blog here. Plus, I will also mail you the new Seeing is Believing book by Ripley’s Believe It or Not. Please include your:
- Name
- Age
Please also get permission from your parents before entering. Any entries from under 13s must be done through a parent’s email address and must also include a telephone contact number for the parent. If you’re a winner, either you or your parents will be contacted for a mailing address to receive your Ripley’s book.
Good luck!
del.icio.us digg reddit
Science And Art Make A Delicious Cookie August 31, 2009
Posted by Miss Weird Scientist in Brain Power, Easy As Pie, Human Body.Tags: art, cookies, gingerbread, science cartoons
1 comment so far
At first glance, I was actually a bit creeped out to see a favorite cookie of mine dissected to show the innards of a human! But this super cool image is the creation of an artist, illustrator and self-proclaimed “crazy person” named Jason Freeny.
What I like most of all when I see this kind of stuff is that it comes from an imaginative place. While science is full of theories and information, it takes a vivid, explorative imagination to bring this to visual life in a way that makes us stop and say “wow.” When I asked Jason about his interest in the human body and science, he replied:
The intricacy fascinates me.
Now, I only wish my high school textbooks had pictures like this way back when I was in school. Well, not that way back. I wonder if this particular gingerbread man has a few gray hairs hiding under his sugary, baked crust.
del.icio.us digg reddit
Evolution Gets Colorful August 24, 2009
Posted by Miss Weird Scientist in Brain Power, Environment, Evolution, Tough Stuff.Tags: autumn, ice age, trees
8 comments
Summer is still going strong but soon it will be fall – a time when we can enjoy the pretty autumn leaves. Or as I always like to do, throw leaves at my wee dog and race through the massive piles of foliage.
Unless you’ve traveled a bit and have a sharp eye for detail, you might not have noticed that autumn leaves are usually red in America but yellow in Europe. Seems strange, doesn’t it? If you’re wondering why, then you’re not the only one. Two professors thought about these differences too and they came up with a cool theory.
Prof. Simcha Lev-Yadun of the Department of Science Education at the University of Haifa-Oranim in Israel and Prof. Jarmo Holopainen of the University of Kuopio in Finland had their work published in New Phytologist.
Stepping Back In Time
Red leaves in America serve as a warning flag to ward off insects. But in Europe, none of these evolutionary 'tricks' are needed, which means leaves are yellow.
To find out more, we have to step back 35 million years to sort out the mystery. Up until that time, huge areas of the globe were rich in evergreen forests. Then, a bunch of ice ages and dry spells came into the picture. Lots of the tree species evolved to become deciduous – meaning they lose their leaves depending on the season. Some trees even started to produce red leaves to keep the pesky insects away. But, something else came into play and you might be surprised to learn just what it was!
Look To The Mountains
It’s true. We have to check out the orientation of the mountains to get the scoop on why the leaves evolved to be red in America but yellow in Europe. In North America, north-to-south mountain chains created a protected area, enabling the plants and animals to migrate south or north. Joining them were the insects. So, the leaves in America remained red to continue warding off these annoying bugs.
But in Europe, the mountains are oriented from east-to-west, leaving no protected areas as the ice and other environmental conditions came to visit. Loads of the tree species just couldn’t survive the extreme cold. When they died, so did those insects that needed the trees for their survival. By the time the ice ages were over, those trees that had managed to survive didn’t have to deal with the now-extinct insects. So, no need for red leaves to keep them away!
Curious Minds Want To Know
I asked Simcha Lev-Yadun how he ended up studying leaves. While my background is in the life sciences (medicine and nutrition), I always wonder how people end up in the many different, neat areas of science. He explained:
I wanted to be a biologist and archaeologist since I was ten years old. For me, science is a lifestyle, not a job. At the age of 57…I look backwards and see that I made the right decision.
He also shared his plans to meet up in Scandinavia with his colleague Jarmo Holopainen, where they hope to find out even more about why plants have such cool and different colors.
My Wishful Thinking
While my dog Tiko probably doesn’t care much about leaf color when he dashes through the crisp autumn leaves, I like to understand what makes one leaf a bright yellow and another a brilliant red. Now, if only leaves could somehow evolve to become fluorescent pink, my favorite color. Somehow though, I just don’t see it happening!
del.icio.us digg reddit
A Clever Condom August 13, 2009
Posted by Miss Weird Scientist in Brain Power, Diseases, Human Body, Think About It.Tags: birth control, condom, HIV, sexually transmitted diseases
12 comments
Most teens today are probably familiar with how condoms work. If you’re sexually active, you already know that condoms can help to protect you from sexually transmitted diseases and also reduce the likelihood of an unwanted pregnancy.
But, researchers at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, United States, are trying to create a new gel that acts like a condom. Sounds a bit strange, doesn’t it? Yet if all goes well, this new gel could be a surprisingly clever weapon against semen and any bacteria or viruses contained within it! This includes viruses such as HIV.
Creating A Trap
Standard condoms protect against pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. But in developing countries, women need cheaper options that give them control over their sexual health.
When you picture a condom, you likely picture something more solid, while a gel would be softer, wouldn’t it? Not always so. This particular gel is a liquid when it’s in contact with the vagina – a highly acidic environment. Once alkaline semen makes its way in there though, the gel turns solid. In fact, any particles that are bigger than 50 nanometres are trapped. This includes semen, HIV and even viruses such as the herpes virus.
Getting It Right
This research team isn’t the first to try making a gel to combat HIV. Unfortunately, other teams haven’t been successful at creating an effective gel to protect women against HIV. In fact, one study found that the gel actually increased the rate of HIV infection. You can see that it’s a tough task to get it right.
It’s Not For You
Why isn’t this condom for you? It’s not that you shouldn’t be using one, of course. Researchers are working on this new condom mostly for women in countries where HIV is common. They also want this condom to be a low-cost alternative for women to get protection if their partner won’t wear a condom. In this way, women can take control of their sexual health.
Pick and Choose
With most of my readers being in the United States, Canada and Britain, you can pick and choose from a number of birth control options and condoms. For many of you, these will be provided without cost through your school or sexual health clinics. We’re lucky here to have access to all of these choices. We also live in a society where you can say “no” to sex without a condom and generally, our culture is one where your choice is respected.
So, shouldn’t women all around the world have choices too?
del.icio.us digg reddit
