birth

Male birth control hasn't progressed since condoms and vasectomies were devised more than 100 years ago. And while the idea of using therapeutic ultrasound to zap sperm has been kicked around for decades, it has never been sufficiently reliable for contraception.

Until now.

Researchers have now found that a commercially available therapeutic ultrasound generator and transducer can significantly deplete the sperm count of rats. The team, based out of the University of North Carolina, relied on funding from the Parsemus Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The results are notable because they improve on the only promising … Read more

It's funny how Siri works. She will tell you where you can find an escort, drugs, or guns but can't seem to help if you are seeking birth control or abortion clinics.

Today, the ACLU launched a petition that asks Apple to fix the "glitch" in the voice-activated service on the iPhone 4S so it provides useful information to people seeking information on reproductive resources.

Apple told CNET that the company is still working out the kinks in the beta service and the problem should be fixed soon.

"Our customers want to use Siri to … Read more

Traditionally, doctors and midwives have used a technique called pelvimetry to measure the pelvis and try to determine its adequacy for giving birth. But pelvis size is just one factor in how smoothly labor will go, rendering the method largely insufficient.

Scientists in France have been working to take some of the guesswork out of labor predictions. Today, at the Radiological Society of North America's annual meeting, they are presenting results of a study showing that their newly developed software, called Predibirth, predicts birth outcomes quite accurately.

The researchers used their software to process magnetic resonance images of 24 … Read more

Since 2010, Facebook users have been able to list family members on their profiles. In February, the social-networking site added "in a civil union" or "in a domestic partnership" to its relationship status line.

Now, Facebook lets people announce that they are expecting through a status update that includes anticipated date of birth and name(s). (Being a twin, I am compelled to point out that some will be entering multiple babies/names.)

An obvious debate quickly ensued, and will likely rage for a good week or two before everyone forgets that there once was a time when such an option was unavailable.

Among the currently trending questions: Is this just another way for Facebook to add to its data pool? Is it at all appropriate to announce pregnancy (or adoption) online? Does this simply serve our growing ability to self-aggrandize? Et cetera.

Immediately after Facebook launched the feature, it was discovered that a technical glitch enabled pranksters to enter their Facebook friends' names as the expected children, but that has since been fixed.

Of course, the beauty of the system is that the user gets to decide whether to take advantage of the new status option. If you like it, use it. If you don't, then don't. And people can still let everyone know in their preferred way first, before releasing the news in one fell swoop via Facebook.… Read more

commentary It's been eight years in the making so far, and has gone through any number of delays and problems, but Boeing's 787 Dreamliner is still one of the most-anticipated commercial airplanes in history. And with the plane's testing program under way for almost exactly a year, it is edging closer and closer to carrying its first passengers.

Now, fans of the innovative plane--it is made from 50 percent composite material and is expected to offer carriers up to 20 percent savings on fuel--can get a fix unlike any offered before. With Edgar Turner's new book, &… Read more

Props to the woman in Germany who this morning became the first ever to give birth inside a magnetic-resonance imaging scanner.

Yes, the prototype scanner was built specifically for labor, and MRIs have been deemed quite safe. But the woman still had to give birth inside one, not to mention wear earmuffs to block out the high-frequency noise. (To protect the newborn's hearing, the scanner was switched off as soon as the amniotic sac surrounding it opened.)

Woman and baby are both fine, according to gynecologist Ernst Beinder at Berlin's Charité Hospital, who tells the Daily Mail … Read more

When social scientists at the University of Southampton began to map out global maternal health trends from United Nations and World Health Organization data, they were able to visualize several trends more clearly.

Working with the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood and the University of Aberdeen, the researchers are producing online maps, a book, a short film, and more. They call it The Atlas of Birth project.

The Web site currently features 18 maps on topics ranging from literacy to genital mutilation to abortion; five case studies on women in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Senegal, and Yemen; and statistics on a … Read more

New Age spirituality has a hard time being taken seriously to begin with, and programs like MB Chakras Astrology, like most other software from Mystic Board, don't help matters. Mystic Board programs tend to be heavy on advertising and light on content, and Chakras Astrology is no exception.

The program's interface is plain, with a box for users to enter their name and drop-down menus for the user's birth date. With that information entered, the program produces a list of "astro chakra details," including the user's sun sign, the associated chakra, and the chakra'… Read more

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded a $100,000 grant to a couple of researchers investigating the use of ultrasound as a reversible male contraceptive.

The technique already works on rats, according to James Tsuruta, of the University of North Carolina, who led the research.

"We think this could provide men with reliable, low-cost, non-hormonal contraception from a single round of treatment," he said.

Read more of "Gates grant to fund testicle-blasting contraceptive" at CBSNews.com.