hormones

Beyond the Male "Pill"

From remote-control key fobs to ultrasound, male contraception goes high tech

Beyond the Pill: Photo by pixelgarden.com
Last January, an Australian engineer announced a bizarre new contraceptive for men: a radio-controlled implant that could block the flow of sperm with the click of a button. The device, which is still in the conceptual stages, is the latest in a growing number of experimental male birth-control methods—including sperm plugs, sperm dissolvers and heat-inducing gels—that don’t tinker with testosterone.

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Fat Breeds Fat

A new study suggests fat itself breeds a well-known appetite-stimulating hormone

As if fast food and TV werent enough to make and keep us fat, a new study from the University of Western Ontario has found that our fat may also be making us fat. Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is an appetite-stimulating hormone produced by our brains, which is responsible for a lot of our drive to eat. Scientists had previously thought that overweight people simply had more NPY flowing from their heads than they needed. As it turns out, the UWO study found that not only do our brains produce NPY, but our abdominal fat makes it as well.

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Can Testosterone Make You Rich?

In a study of London stock traders, elevated hormone levels coincided with above-average profits.

A UK Trading Floor: Photo by HSBC
When financial-market traders start the day with high testosterone levels, they typically end the day with higher-than-average profits. That's the conclusion of researchers at the University of Cambridge who measured morning and afternoon levels of the hormone in 17 male City of London traders over eight consecutive business days. The findings were made public today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

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