“Insect Sex Intersections” is a new episode (the seventh episode) in the series “Laugh Then Think: Japan’s Offbeat Science” broadcast by the Japanese TV network NHK. You can watch it online. The series looks closely and lovingly at some of Japan’s many Ig Nobel Prize winners. The producers summarize the new episode this way: “An […]
Silent bared-teeth and rapid facial mimicry come to the fore, in this new study about what can happen when two participants face off during sex, when and if those two participants are bonobos. The study is: “SEX in Bonobos: The Intensity of Sexual Stimulation Sharply Drops After Facial Mimicry,” Martina Francesconi, Alice Galotti, Yannick Jadoul, […]
This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has four segments. Here are bits of each of them: Wins for kids — Spectator sports are good for children – good for creating children, that is – according to data in a study by Gwinyai Masukume at University College Dublin, Ireland, and his colleagues…. “With a few […]
“Anchovy Sex Is a Force of Nature” is the headline on a Hakai magazine report by Christina Crouch, on February 7, 2024. The report says, in part: …But Castro’s study—which was published in 2022 and won a 2023 Ig Nobel Prize for humorous, thought-provoking scientific achievement—shows that within ocean layers, anchovy spawning causes significant, if subtle, […]