Via Kompas.com
Sex smells. A man’s sweat smells different when he’s sexually aroused — and women can tell the difference between the smell of sexual sweat and the regular stuff, according to a study in The Journal of Neuroscience.

Pulling out works. Well, most of the time. In a paper published in the June issue of Conception magazine, researchers claimed that withdrawal was “almost as effective as the male condom” when it came to pregnancy prevention (a failure rate of 18 percent, vs. the 17 percent failure rate of condoms).

Child’s play. An Iowa State University study found that 25 percent of children — ranging in ages from 11 to 16 — in low-income households reported having sex. The average age of first intercourse for that group was 12.77.

Growing pains. According to a study from the University of Turin, penis extenders might work — a particular brand that used traction to gradually stretch the penis over time was found to increase flaccid members’ length by almost one inch.
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Stefanie Marsh of the Times London reports from Vienna that the Yosef Fritzl incest case (raped his daughter for years) could have been stopped had Austrian system been transparent:
The Kampusch story was regarded in Austria as unique. Less than two years later it emerged that Josef Fritzl had been keeping his daughter in a cellar. Far from examining the similarities, the authorities exaggerated the differences — “two one-offs”.

The real scandal is that not only was Fritzl’s crime preventable but also that it could have been stopped many times. The Austrian Government is quick to cite privacy but I suspect that the contents of its official files would give Elisabeth Fritzl far too many grounds to sue the State.

Sex in prehistoric oceans was likely quite common, a new study says. It was previously unknown whether long-ago sea creatures laid eggs that were fertilized outside the body or engaged in internal fertilization, aka sex. more

Pedophile jailed over `brutal sex attack’ on young siblings
A man who carried out a “callous and brutal” sex attack on a seven-year-old girl and her 11-year-old brother has been sentenced to eight years’ jail.

Adam Bradley Field, 19, pleaded guilty in the West Australian District Court to charges arising from the attack on the pair as they walked home from their suburban Perth primary school on November 11 last year.

The court was told the girl had been so traumatised that her medical examination took place under general anaesthetic.

Field had enticed the siblings into bushland, where he assaulted them one by one, making each one watch while the other was being harmed.

He broke down in court as prosecutor Kate Cook read out graphic details of the sex attacks.

Virginity pledges don’t mean much, study says
As many as one in eight teens in the United States may take a virginity pledge at some point, vowing to wait until they’re married before having sex. But do such pledges work? Are pledge takers more likely than other teens to delay sexual activity?

A new study looked at the sexual behavior of hundreds of young people, some of whom took virginity pledges.

A new study suggests that the answer is no. While teens who take virginity pledges do delay sexual activity until an average age of 21 (compared to about age 17 for the average American teen), the reason for the delay is more likely due to pledge takers’ religious background and conservative views — not the pledge itself.

According to a study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, pledge takers are as likely to have sex before marriage as other teens who are also religious, but don’t take the pledge. However, pledge takers are less likely than other religious or conservative teens to use condoms or birth control when they do start having sex.

In the new study, Janet Rosenbaum, Ph.D., of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, analyzed the large chunk of data used in all the studies that have looked at virginity pledges: the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. In this survey, middle and high school students were asked about their sexual behaviors and opinions starting in 1995-96.

Unsurprising research finds:

The male gender is in danger, with incalculable consequences for both humans and wildlife, startling scientific research from around the world reveals.

The research – to be detailed tomorrow in the most comprehensive report yet published – shows that a host of common chemicals is feminising males of every class of vertebrate animals, from fish to mammals, including people.

Postmenopausal women who have lost interest in sex may be able to bring their libidos back to life with a testosterone patch, according to new research published this week in The New England Journal of Medicine.