Ultrasound, 1963 (University of Cambridge)
The first obstetric ultrasound was developed in 1956 in Scotland by Ian Donald and Tom Brown, using a prototype based off detecting flaws in industrial ships. It began to be used regularly within the country, and later spread to the U.K. and America in the 1970s.
Ultrasounds use ultrasonic waves to determine features of the fetus. Early on, this couldn’t be done, as the technology wasn’t nearly as advanced. It’s fascinating to see how it’s caught up.
SmartBod vibrator prototype evolution (Angel.co)
Happy Friday! We’ve talked about smart sex toys before, and also how Big Data is taking over sex. We’re ushering in a new era of sexual data and metrics, on a more minute level than ever before.
Enter the SmartBod, a vibrator that tracks its users’ data and aggregates it via a related app. While tracking arousal (and climax) patterns, the user will then be able to establish a baseline of usual trends. The app will also suggest ideas mined from the collected data. Call it sex-alytics, if you will.
UC Berkeley entrepreneurs Liz Klinger and James Wang aim to help women spark conversations regarding pleasure, since it can be an uncomfortable topic for most people. The user “would learn how their orgasm changes depending on how and when they use the vibrator.” It can also help women determine if they’re “normal” or not, in terms of their orgasms and arousal. So you can compete with others, or with yourself or both.
This counts as the second “smart” vibrator I’m aware of, next to the upcoming Una. As a both a sex geek and a data nerd, I can’t wait to use these and report my results. All in the name of science, of course!
Crave’s Vesper vibrator (Fast CoDesign)
Legend has it Cleopatra may have been one of the first women to use a vibrator. (In her case, it was a calabash filled with buzzing bees.) The legendary queen/sex toy early adopter clearly knew she needed some extra stimulation, and the simple invention paved the way for a future industry.
Now, things have become a little more complex (and thankfully bee-less). Some sex toys have become more high-tech, and take advantage of opportunities within that field. Clearly, when technology enters the bedroom, fun follows.
Below are just a sampling of what tech looks like…in bed:
We Vibe:
The couples’ vibrator We-Vibe 4 Plus makes use of an app designed to maximize each users’ experience. It can used during sex, stimulating both partners. But it can also be used at a distance, with one wearing and the other controlling via the complementary app. The controller can choose the sensations, which the other partner then receives.
Lelo:
Sometimes you just want oral. Enter the Ora 2, which simulates cunnilingus via a rotating hub that stimulates the clitoris.
Crave:
One central component of technology is that it must look good (thank you Steve Jobs for making this commonplace). Sleek is generally the operative term. Crave’s Vesper is a wearable, thin vibrator the consumer can wear around her neck (and only use externally). Creators of the Vesper made sure the product is as elegant to wear as it is useful.
…And into the future:
Una:
This company doesn’t yet have a product on the market. But their goal is to sell a “smart” vibrator that learns from what the user likes. It’ll be interesting to see how this one takes shape.
As technology continues to evolve, it’ll be interesting to witness how sex toys incorporate the new tech into existing and new toys. Who knows? We could soon see something that looks straight out of “The Jetsons.”
Dr. Carl Djerassi (Rutgers News)
Modern contraception pioneer Dr. Carl Djerassi died last Friday in San Francisco. He was 91 years old, and had suffered from complications of liver and bone cancer.
Often called the father of The Pill, Djerassi found an essential component of the now-common family planning product. In 1951, while working as a researcher at Syntex in Mexico City, he and two others successfully synthesized norethindrone, a progestin that later provided the base of the modern birth control pill. Djerassi and his team received a patent for their discovery.
Initially, the scientists thought that norethindrone would help fertility, but they soon realized that it served another purpose. The team knew that progesterone inhibited ovulation during pregnancy. They modified the progestin’s basic structure and added ethisterone, a compound thought to be devoid of medical value. (Warning: science-speak ahead.)
Djerassi’s team found that they could change the structure of progesterone to increase its potency eightfold. This progesterone analogue was strong enough to work when injected, but lost its potency when administered orally…Djerassi’s group made the same chemical modification in ethisterone that they had earlier made in progesterone.
(Interesting side note: At the time, Djerassi wasn’t researching anything to do with conception when he and his team made his famous discovery. He was actually looking for a compound that could be used to treat cancer. Happy accident, as they say.)
After five years of clinical trials, the birth control pill began reached the mass market, and cracked 1960s sexual norms wide open. (And we’re still feeling the effects of it today.)
This wasn’t his only big discovery: Djerassi also patented the first antihistamine, the drug that prevents allergy symptoms.
During his lifetime, Djerassi received 34 honorary doctorates. He was also the recipient of the National Medal of Science for chemistry in 1973, and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 1991. The two awards are the U.S.’s highest science and technology honors, respectively.
In addition to his scientific accomplishments, Djerassi also wrote plays (some performed off-Broadway) and science-fiction, founded a company to control insect growth, and started an artists’ colony in his property in California.
Dr. Djerassi’s contributions to family planning were, and continue to be, a boon to women the world over, and his work will continue to hold great value for the coming generations.
Thank you, Dr. Djerassi. Thank you.
Sexy Peach
Last week, probiotic supplement Sweet Peach was introduced at the DEMO Conference in San Jose, California. Unveiled by Cambrian Genomics founders (and men) Austen Heinz and Gilad Gome, the supplement was initially pitched as an artificial fragrance (like, say, a peach) for the vagina, replacing the organ’s natural scent.
Understandably, people were outraged. But this turned out to be incorrect. Audrey Hutchinson, the actual founder of Sweet Peach Probiotics (and a woman), described how Sweet Peach would work thusly:
“A user will take a sample of her vaginal microbiome and send it in for analysis. After determining the makeup of her microbiome–in effect, taking a census of the microorganisms that reside in her vagina–the company will supply a personalized regimen of probiotic supplements designed to promote optimal health.”
The ultimate goal is that using Sweet Peach would help women avoid health issues caused by microorganisms, such as yeast infections.
Sweet Peach’s goals parallels recent news and studies done about replacing “bad” gut with “good” bacteria in the digestive tract to ease gastrointestinal issues.
But could it work for the vagina as well?
It’s too early to tell. Right now, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) Oral Probiotics page says that probiotics have mainly been used for oral and the aforementioned gastrointestinal issues. These probiotics are mostly taken in the form of oral pills or live cultures (such as yogurt).
The NCCAM notes that some probiotics studied have the potential to aid in healing, as a 2013 UCLA study shows. The study found that women who ingested probiotics through yogurt had more beneficial brain function during rest states and emotion-recognition tests.
But this study worked off the previously established gut-mind connection, which can responsible for stress and fight-or-flight responses.
As of now, there’s no known gut-vagina connection.
A recent op-ed by microbe expert Ed Yong in “The New York Times” recently alluded to the difficulty using microbes to boost vaginal health:
“The results would be hard to interpret and might be outdated by the time they arrived.”
In short, the NCCAM reminds us that we’re still pretty far from answering certain existing questions:
“The rapid growth in marketing and consumer interest and use has outpaced scientific research on the safety and efficacy of probiotics for specific health applications.”
Sex & Stats: Where Numbers Come to Bang 