News O’ Regina

Turns out it’s the guy who might care more.

By Regina Nuzzo

Los Angeles Times - Health Section

December 15, 2008

It’s Christmas Eve. You’ve just exchanged presents with your special — or soon-to-be-special — someone, when you hear the lackluster response: “Uh, gee, thanks.”

Is a bombed gift the kiss of death for your future together? Or a funny story to share years hence?

Research published in August suggests the answer is different for men and women and, perhaps surprisingly, it’s the men who care more.

In a psychology experiment at the University of Virginia, when men got a rotten gift that was supposedly from their long-term girlfriend (in this case, a gift certificate from a store they hated), they were more likely to decide the girlfriend was very different from them, and they were more pessimistic about their chances of staying together and getting married.

Deep-seated cultural cues play a role in snagging a romantic partner at a party.

THE MATING GAME: HOLIDAY PARTY SPECIAL

By Regina Nuzzo

Los Angeles Times - Health Section

December 8, 2008

Wondering what to wear at the holiday party to lure a new love for ‘09? That expensive, sequiny dress? A handsome new holly-green vest and some knock-’em-dead after-shave? Too bad fashion writers don’t read science journals. Instead of just lecturing on clothing, perfume and makeup, they could draw on research from human mating for their tips on boosting one’s attractiveness at holiday parties — ones that don’t involve buying a thing.

Details such as the color of the walls, who you stand next to, whether the crab cakes at the buffet run out early — strange to say — may change how others perceive us in small (yet potentially useful) ways. “People are differentially attractive under different circumstances,” says David M. Buss, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of Texas at Austin and author of “The Evolution of Desire.”

New studies on the mysterious sex lives of 57-to-85-year-old Americans.

THE MATING GAME

By Regina Nuzzo

Los Angeles Times - Health Section

November 17, 2008

Far be it from us to pick nits with billionaire Warren Buffett in these bleak economic times, but perhaps he knows more about finance than he does about sex. “It’s nice to have a lot of money, but you know, you don’t want to keep it around forever,” Buffett, worth $62 billion at age 78, told Bloomberg News recently. “Otherwise it’s a little like saving sex for your old age.”

His compatriots might disagree.

Nearly 40% of Buffett’s peers — American men between 75 and 85 years old — are sexually active, new studies reveal. More than half of those have sex at least twice a month. A quarter do it every week. (Only 17% of women that age are sexually active, but they’re equally busy.) That might be more positive transactions than Wall Street is seeing these days.

How our brains keep us from straying

THE MATING GAME

By Regina Nuzzo

Los Angeles Times - Health Section

September 15, 2008

In the pursuit of happily-ever-after, the odds seem to be stacked against us.

Men and women reap huge benefits when they stick around with a good partner — staying happier and healthier, living longer and passing along more genes.

But the sticking-around part is a challenge. We don’t get long-term relationship payoffs right away. And until then — between the once-upon-a-time and the happily-ever-after — plenty of temptations can beckon.

Not that it’s wrong to shop around before settling down. But there always will be enticing alternative mates — whether heart-grabbing or merely eye-catching. So researchers wonder: With so many attractive alternatives, how do humans manage to maintain relationships at all?

Yes, it’s true.

THE MATING GAME

By Regina Nuzzo

Los Angeles Times - Health Section

August 18, 2008

Urology clinics have a saying: “Erections make erections.”

In other words, sex is not unlike sports. If you want to be a good tennis player, play lots of tennis; if you want to be a good lover, make lots of love.

This maxim springs more from anecdotal observations than from scientific studies: Men who have erection problems tend not to have much sex, urologists noticed. And those who don’t, have plenty. Then again, anyone with a passing knowledge of the birds and the bees might have guessed as much.

What happens after a few weeks of abstinence? Two studies shed light on how a body changes after a sexual dry spell.

THE MATING GAME

By Regina Nuzzo

Los Angeles Times - Health Section

August 18, 2008

Before a big day: A study of 46 men and women in Scotland looked at whether sex affects the body’s blood-pressure response to a stressful event — in this case, a nerve-racking combo of public speaking and verbal arithmetic.

The results, published in 2006 in the journal Biological Psychology, showed that people who’d had no sexual activity (no intercourse of any kind, no masturbation) in the two weeks before the stressful day had the worst blood-pressure responses.

Those with the best reactions? Folks who’d had penile-vaginal intercourse only. (Those who’d had other types of sexual activity with another person still fared worse than those who’d had vaginal intercourse; masturbation was barely an improvement over no sexual activity.)

Eager to connect with that elusive (some say mythical) ‘erotogenic zone’? Years after the hype began, finding it remains easier said than done. But that’s not stopping researchers from looking.

THE MATING GAME

By Regina Nuzzo

Special to The Times

July 21, 2008

Los Angeles Times - Health Section

When in 1950 Dr. Ernst Gräfenberg described finding a surprisingly sensitive spot inside the vagina near the urethra, he made the process seem so foolproof. A medical article detailed his effortless demonstrations of the existence of this “distinct erotogenic zone” — and the not-unexpected consequences of stimulating such a zone — in his own patients. Anyone with a vagina could surely do the same for herself.

Well, perhaps it was that easy for him. But outside his examining room, nothing about Gräfenberg’s spot has proven so simple.

Finding common biological traits — things like hair growth patterns, penis size, family makeup — might one day shed light on the origins of sexual orientation.

THE MATING GAME

By Regina Nuzzo

Special to The Times

Los Angeles Times - Health Section

June 16, 2008

Last month, Sen. John McCain dropped by “Saturday Night Live,” drawing laughs from his promise, if elected president, to fight expensive federal projects — such as, he spoofed, a Department of Defense device to “jam gaydar.”

That was a joke. But some scientists are, in a way, working on gaydar, the supposed ability to discern whether a person is homosexual by reading subtle cues from their appearance. Just don’t refer to it that way. The preferred term is “sexual orientation correlates.”

Scientists search the whole genome for clues to common diseases

By Regina Nuzzo

Science News
Vol.173 #19 / Feature

June 21st, 2008

Old-fashioned gene hunting wasn’t terribly efficient. Geneticists typically pursued one gene at a time, armed only with guesses—usually wrong—about which chunks of genetic code might be linked to human disease.

Geneticists managed to bag a few trophies anyway—genes for Huntington’s chorea and cystic fibrosis, for example—mostly in rare diseases caused by a problem in a single, high-powered gene. Unfortunately, most of the more common diseases, such as type II diabetes, are instead controlled by a whole crowd of gene variants, each playing a small and often subtle role in the path to disease.

They store and dispense energy, expanding and shrinking but never disappearing. A guide to their world.

By Regina Nuzzo

Special to The Times

Los Angeles Times - Health Section

June 2, 2008

FAR FROM being simply dumb, jumbo-size refrigerators of the cellular world, fat cells are now recognized by scientists as leading surprisingly active and influential lives.

They play a role in myriad bodily functions, research suggests, such as regulating hunger and fighting off infection. But under the wrong conditions, fat cells’ natural propensities can backfire — leading to increased risk for various modern lifestyle diseases, including heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and some cancers.

“Fat cells are surprisingly complicated,” says Dr. David Heber, professor of medicine at the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine and director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition. “They’re more than a bag of fat.”

For members who submit a saliva sample, dating website ScientificMatch.com plays matchmaker using DNA and smell.

THE MATING GAME

By Regina Nuzzo

Special to the Times

Los Angeles Times — Health Section

May 19, 2008

Swapping spit: The term takes on a more refined meaning at the new dating site ScientificMatch.com. A prerequisite for signing up — in addition to having a bit of cash to spare — involves swishing a cotton swab inside your cheek and mailing a juicy sample of skin cells and saliva.

What do you get in return for your DNA-laden drool? A chance at genetic and olfactory harmony. ScientificMatch.com — perhaps the first company to combine the commercial potential of genetic testing, dating and the Internet in one package — offers to find you a lover who smells good.

Breadless, meatless, sweetless. Today’s hottest offerings have an eating (or not) plan for everyone. We weigh in on whether they might work.

By Regina Nuzzo

Special to The Times

Los Angeles Times — Health Section

March 10, 2008

HERE’S the latest diet advice, hot off the presses: Eat less fat. No, eat more protein. And if your ring finger is longer than your index finger, you might also want to avoid tomatoes. Don’t forget to write in your journal every morning. And clean out your refrigerator every week. Oh, and you should drink flavorless oil every day between meals. Add ground-up plant roots to your food. Order the tacos instead of the burrito. Banish Ss from your eating (except on days that begin with S, of course). And never, ever trust the USDA.

To unlock the secrets of the climax researchers are looking behind the scenes and into the nervous system, where the true magic happens.

By Regina Nuzzo

Special to The Times

Los Angeles Times — Health Section

February 11, 2008

AS they seek to document and demystify one of life's great thrills, scientists have run across some real head-scratchers.

How, for example, can they explain the fact that some men and women who are paralyzed and numb below the waist are able to have orgasms?

How to explain the "orgasmic auras" that can descend at the onset of epileptic seizures — sensations so pleasurable they prompt some patients to refuse antiseizure medication?

And how on Earth to explain the case of the amputee who felt his orgasms centered in that missing foot?