The Evolution of Men's and Women's Desires

The four universal conflicts that undermine men’s and women’s relationships.

• Human sexual psychology evolved to cope with ancestral adaptive problems over millions of years.

• Males and females face different evolutionary challenges that impact their love lives.

• Conflicts between the sexes tie to different evolutionary-based desires of males and females.

Biologists have a very simple and useful definition of what is male and what is female, whether we are fish, ferns, or human beings. An individual can either make many small gametes (sex cells) or fewer but larger gametes. The individuals that produce smaller gametes are called "males," and those that produce larger ones are called "females."
“The cellular imbalance is at the center of maleness,” says Steve Jones, a professor of genetics and head of the prestigious Galton Laboratory at the University College of London. “It confers on males a simpler sex life than their partners, together with a host of incidental idiosyncrasies, from more suicide, cancer, and billionaires to rather less hair on the top of the head.” 
The Evolution of Men's and Women's Desires

What real women really think ...

"He's at home" was the term for a Nantucket dildo

A long and quite interesting article at Literary Hub traces one writer's journey to document the use of dildos by the wives of Nantucket whalers.

On Nantucket, 80-year-old Connie Congdon and I sat in her dim living room looking at the 120-year-old plaster dildo that a mason had found in her chimney...
In the box were the other antiques the mason had found with the dildo: six charred envelopes from the 1890s addressed to Captain James B. Coffin; letters from the same James B. Coffin to Grover Cleveland and Assistant Secretary of State Edwin Dehl; a dirty and frayed shirt collar; a pipe that still smelled of tobacco when I fit my nose in the bowl; and a green glass laudanum bottle. These items must have been hidden in the chimney by James’s wife,­ Martha “Mattie” Coffin, sometime between when the letters were dated and when she died in 1928. The fireplace was later sealed up, and a closet was built in front of it...
She unwrapped the stony phallus from its pink tissue paper and handed it to me. It was heavier than it looked. The head had been painted wild-berry red. The shaft was off-white and touched with light brown stains. Through the center was a hole no thicker than a straw, as if it had been skewered for drying. Saw marks streaked the cross section of the flat base, and it had been circumcised with whittling scrapes. “No mistaking what it is,” Connie said, as I turned it in my hand...
She bent at the waist, snapped on the flashlight, and peered up the chimney. “Up there,” she said, motioning me to kneel down beside her. “It was on the flue shelf.” I craned my neck. Her light swept over the chimney’s charred innards. The damper ledge where the dildo had been hidden was an arm’s length away...
Nantucket wives were dubbed “Cape Horn widows,” because their husbands might be gone for eight years. In Moby-Dick, Captain Ahab tells his first mate, Starbuck, that of the past forty years of “making war on the horrors of the deep” he’d only been ashore three, leaving only “one dent in [his] marriage pillow.” “[W]ife?” Ahab rages, “wife?—rather a widow with her husband alive!” The dildos, called “he’s-at-homes” in some books on the history of the Yankee whale fishery, were meant to be some insurance of fidelity for a husband who was rarely present.

Much more at Literary Hub.

A similar item being auctioned in Ireland

Lot 475 is a Victorian-era sex toy – an uncannily lifelike-looking phallus, intricately carved from ivory. Sandwiched in the brochure between a pair of antique miniature portraits and a set of decanter labels, the item is described in the brochure as an “antique carved ivory ladies' companion in scarlet lined leather upholstered carry box with inset bevelled glass panel”.
“It is a beautiful piece, which comes from one of the well-known Anglo-Irish families,” says auctioneer Damien Matthews...
“This was a very enlightened family, and this would have been a very loving gift from a husband to wife. You can see that because the level of detail is incredible, down to the folds of the skin. There’s a heart carved at the base of it, where her finger would have been, and a receptacle in which she could keep a lock of his hair.”...
The man did return, and the box was subsequently custom-made in Ireland. “The leather box is Irish. She would have got the box carved for it – there’s a stamp on the lock with the name of an Irish locksmith,” Matthews says...
Matthews says there has been considerable interest in the piece, and that it could go to a museum of erotica, to a collector of antique ivory or Victorian art. The guide price is set at €500-€800.

Further details at Irish Times, via The Guardian.

A report from the BBC of an ancient phallic object that may have served as a sex toy:

A sculpted and polished phallus found in a German cave is among the earliest representations of male sexuality ever uncovered, researchers say.
The 20cm-long, 3cm-wide stone object, which is dated to be about 28,000 years old, was buried in the famous Hohle Fels Cave near Ulm in the Swabian Jura. The prehistoric "tool" was reassembled from 14 fragments of siltstone.
Its life size suggests it may well have been used as a sex aid by its Ice Age makers, scientists report.

"In addition to being a symbolic representation of male genitalia, it was also at times used for knapping flints.

A discovery at Vindolanda

Archaeologists believe they may have found the only known life-size Roman dildo, discovered in a ditch in what were the farthest northern fringes of the empire.
If it was not used as a sexual implement then the 2,000-year-old object may have been an erect penis-shaped pestle, or it could have been a feature from a statue that people touched for good luck.
The Vindolanda phallus is 16cm long but, researchers say, was probably larger because archaeological wood is prone to shrinkage and warping.

Informed discussion at The Guardian.
You know we could not close this post without including a link to the famous poem(s) "There Once Was a Man From Nantucket."

Woman Just Has One Of Those Faces Strangers Feel Comfortable Masturbating To

Laughing off another encounter, this time while riding the bus, local woman Lillian Bedford confirmed Wednesday that she just has one of those faces' strangers feel comfortable masturbating to. “Waiting for a train, in line at the supermarket—people always come right up to me and start playing with themselves,” said Bedford, adding that she suspects it’s her disarming smile that puts strangers at ease enough to approach her in public and begin aggressively massaging their genitals. “It happens everywhere. Even if I’m standing with a group of friends, they march right up to me specifically and tell me they’re going to cover me in dick nectar. I think it has something to do with energy, like maybe my aura is giving off vibes that are especially welcoming to loads of cum. A lot of people tell me I look familiar, too, like they’ve jerked off to me somewhere before. One guy even said it was because I reminded him of his mother. I don’t mind, though. It’s not like I’m so busy that I can’t stop for a couple minutes and let them climax.” At press time, Bedford wondered aloud if her magnetic personality had anything to do with the fact that she was constantly masturbating in public. 

(Of course, this post comes via The Onion, so take it from there - but this does occur daily many times daily ... many, man, times daily ... people jacking or jilling to the thought of a random face they liked.)

How to Train Your Penis

Dr. Emily has this to say:
Let’s demystify erectile dysfunction, shall we? 
Whether you’re having a tough time getting erect or staying erect, it’s distressing – but you aren’t powerless over this situation. Once you have a deeper understanding of how an erection works, you can have much more control over your body and take proactive steps to train them: to look and feel stiffer, to stay harder longer, and to orgasm with more intensity. 
Let’s start with the science. Why does a penis get hard?
Because the arteries inside of it swell with blood. When you’re sexually aroused, the body sends blood to the genitalia, and that blood fills two tubes of spongy tissue in the penis: the corpus cavernosa. As they swell, the penis becomes erect, and the veins here narrow to trap in the blood. That keeps the penis hard, until you orgasm or arousal ceases, and blood flows like usual. 
What’s the source of erection problems?
When someone can’t get or maintain an erection, it’s either because of insufficient blood flow to the penis – meaning, their arteries aren’t pumping enough blood in – or, there’s too much blood flowing out of the penis, because their veins aren’t compressing enough. 
Ten to twenty percent of ED causes are psychological, and they include stress and anxiety. But other psychological issues around arousal and sexual expectation can play a part here too: maybe the penis owner has become habituated to intense porn, so IRL sex isn’t as exciting; maybe there’s resent towards their partner, or a lack of sexual attraction. But by and large, unpredictable erections have far more to do with overall physical health, and especially vascular health. 
So here are seven ways to train your penis for harder erections, both directly and holistically. Most of these tips have the added benefit of improving your general health, which tbh, is pretty sexy all by itself. A penis owner who’s into self-care? We love to see it.
Train the rest of your body 
To improve the function of your arteries and veins, you need to habituate your body to blood flow efficiency. That’s a fancy way of saying: exercise. How long? Twenty minutes a day should do it. A 2013 study found that this level of moderate exercise was successful in treating erectile dysfunction (ED), even as participants got older in age. The reasoning is simple: arteries and veins aren’t passive conduits for blood. Instead, each one has three layers, and the middle one is composed of muscle fibers. So, when you exercise, you don’t just work the muscles you see with the naked eye. You work your arterial and venous muscles, which are getting stronger and stronger at supporting your erection. 
Get data insights on your erections 
Use a smart penis ring to understand how lifestyle factors are affecting your erection. The Tech Ring by FirmTech is a penis ring that counts your number of nocturnal erections (which can indicate cardiovascular health), the duration of your erection, and the firmness of the penis. With app-enabled capabilities, these insights can then be used by the penis owner to optimize their erectile fitness: they can experiment with different lifestyle strategies, like more exercise, less drinking and smoking, and more healthful eating, to see which ones make the biggest impact on their erection. In addition to providing vital data, the ring is uniquely comfortable and most users report better erections and orgasms. Win, win, win if you ask me. 
Do kegels 
You’ve probably heard of kegels before, but what you may not know is that every gender can perform them – not just vulva owners.
“Kegels” is the name for squeezing your pelvic floor muscles, as if you were stopping the flow of urine. When you take time daily to tone this muscle group, you’ll help safeguard against premature ejaculation, which is dependent in part on pelvic floor muscle tone. But in addition, strong pelvic floor muscles will give you a more intense orgasm and more of a “projectile” ejaculation. An easy starting point is this: squeeze your pelvic floor, hold for three seconds, then release for three seconds. Repeat up to 20 times. Start with one session a day, eventually building up to three or four sessions a day. 
Edge during solo sex
The bolder version of kegels is edging: essentially the same thing, but you’re doing them while you’re aroused and hard.
While you masturbate, experiment with getting close to orgasm – think 7 or 8, on a 1-10 scale – then bringing yourself back down, and work your way up again. Edging like this over and over again will result in a powerful orgasm, because your genitals are so engorged with blood. But also? It will help train your pelvic floor muscles to not spasm quite so quickly, keeping your erection engaged for longer than you normally would. 
Sleep
Losing sleep can make you more likely to develop plaque in your arteries, which negatively affects your circulation. As we know by now, that makes it more difficult to get and maintain an erection.
So prioritize a good night’s rest, aiming for six to eight hours a night. You know the drill: put your devices to bed one hour before you do, avoid caffeine in the afternoon, look into melatonin as a supplement, and try to go to bed / wake up around the same time each day, so your body gets used to the rhythm of wakefulness vs. fatigue. 
Reduce your stress
The insidious thing about erectile dysfunction is that it operates on a feedback loop: failure to get hard or stay hard is stressful, so when you eventually try again, anxiety about your most recent attempt sets in. That blocks the arousal process, making it more difficult to enjoy the erections you want (or any at all). Fun!
Except, not. Because on top of erection anxiety, modern life is fast, complex, and has all too many options for stress management that compound the existing problem: drinking, eating to excess, Netflix and over-chill. None of those things help your circulation though, which is what a strong erection needs. 
So find ways to manage stress that support your top-line goal. Go on walks. Talk to friends. Journal. Meditate. Try to work in something funny and delightful (like stand-up comedy) to your viewing schedule. The key is to be ritualistic about it, rather than reactive, and engage in these stress-reduction activities so often that they become a daily, calming habit (rather than a quick fix in the moment). 
Cut back on nicotine and alcohol, but do feel free to enjoy caffeine
Nicotine damages blood vessels, and alcohol interferes with the messengers in the brain that tell the penis to fill with blood. Alcohol can also reduce the production of testosterone – key to the arousal process – so in truth, neither of these vices are helping your erection. 
The daily treat you can absolutely keep, though? Your morning cup of coffee or tea: caffeine can improve blood flow, encouraging engorgement in your genitals during the arousal process. As always, keep it in moderation: too much caffeine can result in anxiety, and when it comes to erections, we want to reduce anxiety as much as possible.  

Lovely Flower

How To Get Your Wife To Talk About Your Sex Life

Dr. Samantha Rodman Whiten puts it this way:
Many men struggle with the fact that their wives shut them down when they start to talk about sex.
Their wives have heard their complaints before, and they want to be left alone and not pushed. They feel the conversations go nowhere, and their husbands will never be happy with what they are comfortable giving.
Men end up feeling ignored, invalidated, and dismissed, and act rude and passive-aggressive in response. The cycle of mutual resentment ramps up with every one of these interactions. Fortunately, there are ways to flip the script and make it more likely that you will not get shut down.
The reason that you get dismissed so quickly when you bring up sex with your wife is that she feels exactly like you do: like her needs are not important to you.
She has likely been saying the same thing for a long time, although she may not be expressing it clearly enough for you, which is:
1. She does not feel comfortable with doing whatever it is you want her to do in bed, and
2. She feels you do not care.
On the other side, you are trying to say:
1. I do not feel comfortable with our sex life as it is, and
2. You don’t seem to care.
See how similar that is? The key to understanding why your wife won’t talk with you about sex (or won’t anymore, as the case may be), and getting her to engage on this topic in a team-oriented way is empathy. When you see that she feels exactly as you do about this topic, you can understand why she feels as resentful and frustrated as you do.
Within a loving relationship or at least a pretty good relationship, I do not buy into the idea that sex, or physical touch, is a less valid love language, although, in our cultural climate, many do. Even if your wife believes that other love languages, like verbal affection, should come before physical touch, you will still have a chance with her really engaging with you about sex if you approach her in an empathic way.
In order to fully empathize with your wife’s position, do some research. 

Read about female libido within long-term monogamous relationships.
Read Esther Perel’s books, especially Mating in Captivity. 

Read Wanting Sex Again by Laurie Watson, all about how women’s desire goes away over time and how it can potentially be reawakened.
Think back through the conversations that your wife herself has had with you on this topic and try to summarize her perspective. Only when you think you truly understand her position should you approach her. Here is an example of something you might say:
“Hey, I know you are sick of hearing me bring up our sex life.
I am really trying to understand where you’re coming from. I know that you feel burdened and touched out and overwhelmed. I am learning that stress is terrible for women’s sex drives and I have added to that stress with these conversations.
I do want us to work on our sex life, and it is important to me, but I want you to know that I am ready to hear you and work together on a way we can both feel close and get our needs met.”
The trick is that there is no trick. You genuinely have to come from a place of empathy and understanding about female desire and how your wife in particular feels about your sex lives and your prior conversations about it.
You should also be trying your best to accept what needs to be accepted, given your research (for example, that women often only feel responsive desire once sex starts, versus desire before being touched, or that women have no sex drive while nursing).
There are few situations where your wife isn’t going to respond to your changed tone and increased empathy, which are likely in marked contrast to your previous air of aggrieved complaint. Conversations like this often lead to new directions for couples, whether that is going to couples or sex therapy, trying new things together, or even reading an article about how to spice up your sex life.
Nobody should accept that their needs will go unmet for their entire married life. Empathizing with your wife’s feelings and recognizing their overlap with your own frustration and anger is the first step toward coming together in a productive and close way, about this topic or any other. 

76% Of Women Prefer This Hobby Over Sex

Amanda Chatel tells us:
A study published via the Columbia Student News blog found that 42 percent of seniors would willingly give up oral sex for cheese. The results of this study were, for some, mind-boggling.
True lovers of oral sex will attest to the fact that, when done correctly, oral intercourse is one of the greatest pleasures in the world. It's great foreplay and something people usually return the favor for.
However, I think these people have never indulged in a proper stinky cheese from France, the kind that isn't pasteurized and dances on your taste buds like a dream, a dream, I tell you! Nothing in this world is better than cheese, nothing. Not even oral sex.
Still, although considered a high percentage to some, 42 percent is in the minority and didn't seem to prove that there would be a global cheese shortage in the near future.
So, the world moved on, people ate cheese, had oral sex, or both, and the earth continued to turn. Then came a survey that made the Columbia students look like hedonists.
When a group of 500 women was recently polled about their preferences for "me time" versus "sexy times," it was the former that won and won with flying colors.
A whopping 76 percent of women, a large majority, would rather be left alone to do their own thing than have sex. But seriously, is any woman out there even remotely surprised by this?
Of those 500 women, 42 percent said their daily "me time" is less than an hour.
How is one supposed to properly veg on the couch watching reruns of Law & Order and snacking on Bugles in that tiny amount of time? They can't!
And obviously, that type of loungey behavior is far more important to the sanity of human beings everywhere than going through the whole process of getting naked, throwing out some moans, probably getting a bit sweaty, and all that sex-related stuff.
Sex versus your favorite food and new episodes of your favorite show? You do the math.
Sex is definitely a fun way to spend your downtime, but honestly, if you're not well-rested and haven't stretched out like broccoli on the couch for a few hours, you're really not up to par. When it comes to sex, you want to bring your A-game, but you can't do that if you haven't indulged in yourself and all your "me time" activities. Have your cheese and then your foreplay.
It's science. Really. Just ask Liz Lemon. Do you think she'd give up sleeping, eating donuts, and doing her own thing for sex? Absolutely not.
Do you choose downtime over getting it on? 

Sex Positioning

Here are some different positions in which to "Bump Uglies":

6 Positions That Make Anal Sex Easier & Less Intimidating For Beginners

69 Sex Positions You Need to Put on Your Bucket List Immediately

Ending up right on target ...

Starting off on the celebrity beat ...

This is a Sailing Train

That's right. This train is not powered by a steam or diesel engine, but by the wind. It's called a sail bogey. This was a Nineteenth Century form of transportation in windy areas, especially those close to the sea. It often took the form of a boat that was mounted on a railway chassis.
You can see a photo and a description of another one in northeastern England here. Such sailing bogeys were, I gather, more recreational than practical.
I suspect but am not certain that the sail bogey photographed above is from the historical Ffestiniog Railway in northwestern Wales.

Colorful People

Fed-up Ohio pizzeria advertises jobs for 'non-stupid people'

A pizzeria in Columbus, Ohio is so frustrated by a string of unsuccessful hires that it decided to put out a colorful qualifier in their new hiring notice, putting out a banner that said "Now Hiring: Non-Stupid People." 
Fed-up Ohio pizzeria advertises jobs for 'non-stupid people'

Things are looking up ...

'Gotta be connected to medical debt'

The United States’ credit scoring system is something that residents of some European countries have a hard time comprehending. Credit cards are king in the U.S., yet in parts of the European Union (EU), debit cards are more popular. And European banks and lenders don’t necessarily regard credit card use as a sign of one’s financial health.
Regardless, the credit scoring companies Equifax, Trans Union and Experian have enormous influence in the U.S., where one’s credit score can mean the difference between qualifying for a mortgage and not qualifying for a mortgage. According to reporting from the Washington Post’s Andrew Van Dam, the South is the U.S. region that tends to have the country’s lowest credit scores. And the reporter lays out some reasons for that in an article published on February 21.
'Gotta be connected to medical debt': The surprising reason credit scores are lower in the South

Are You Really Not Tracked While Using Your Browser's Incognito Mode?

It’s not all secretive as it seems to be, unfortunately. 
We all use the browsing mode if we want our history to be untracked, not recorded on our computers. The incognito mode functions essentially like a new computer– no cookies to help your browser, no recorded logins, and passwords. You will have to input all of your details all over again. When you exit the mode and open it again, it won’t save any of your past sessions at all. 
In your computer, there’s no recorded trace of all the open tabs and activities in your incognito browser. However, if you ask the question of whether you’re not tracked in this mode, well… not exactly. See, your computer has to connect to the Internet. For it to do so, it has to go through your router— which monitors all web addresses you visit. 
Additionally, your digital footprints will still be all over the Web when you’re using incognito. This is because the website you’ve visited will be able to identify you, and your activities will be tracked. Even if you’re not logging into any site while in this mode, you are still tracked via your computer’s IP address. 
If you want to hide your tracks, the best way so far is to use a virtual private network (VPN). This is because it will encrypt your connection and hide your IP address. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Check this piece on Science Focus to learn how to have a more private browsing session on the Internet!

Red

Rewiring Blood Cells To Give Rise To Precursors Of Sperm

Different cell types—say, heart, liver, blood, and sperm cells—possess characteristics that help them carry out their unique jobs in the body. In general, those characteristics are hard-wired. Without intervention, a heart cell won’t spontaneously transform into a liver cell.
Yet researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, working with collaborators from the University of Texas at San Antonio and Texas Biomedical Research Institute, have prompted marmoset blood cells to acquire the flexibility of stem cells. Then they directed those stem cells to take on the characteristics of sperm precursors.
 In the journal eLife, they report on their step-by-step process of rewiring cells. The findings—the first in the marmoset, a small monkey—open new possibilities for studying primate biology and developing novel assisted reproductive technologies like in vitro gametogenesis, a process of generating germ cells, sperm or eggs, in a laboratory dish, akin to how in vitro fertilization involves the generation of an embryo outside the human body.
“Scientists know how to generate functional sperm and egg from induced pluripotent stem cells in mice, but mouse germ cells are very different from human germ cells,” says Kotaro Sasaki, an assistant professor at Penn Vet. “By studying marmosets, whose biology more closely resembles ours, we can bridge the gap.”
To understand how to generate germ cells, the researchers first studied germ cell precursors from marmoset embryos, which had never been rigorously characterized for the species. They found that these early-stage cells, known as primordial germ cells (PGCs), bore certain molecular markers that could be tracked over time. Performing single-cell RNA sequencing on these cells revealed that PGCs expressed genes characteristic of early-stage germ cells and those related to epigenetic modifications, which regulate gene expression. PGCs did not, however, express genes known to be turned on later in the process of germ cell development, when precursor cells migrate to the ovaries or testes to complete their maturation.
Their findings were “consistent with the notion that marmoset germ cells undergo a reprogramming process,” Sasaki says, that “turns off” certain markers and allows PGCs to proceed through the stages of germ cell development. The patterns the researchers observed in marmoset cells closely resembled what has been found in both humans and other monkey species but were distinct from those of mice, another reason why the marmoset could be a valuable model for reproductive biology studies.
With that information in hand, the team set about trying to reconstitute the process of development artificially, in the lab. The first step: to transform blood cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), cells that retain the ability to give rise to a number of other cell types.
“I have a lot of experience in working with cell culture and induced pluripotent stem cells, but establishing a stable culture for the marmoset cells was a difficult part of the study,” says Yasunari Seita, a postdoctoral researcher in Sasaki’s lab and a lead author.
After much trial and error and applying lessons learned from mouse, human, and other investigations, Seita landed upon a strategy that enabled him to generate and sustain stable cultures of iPSCs. A key to success was the addition of an inhibitor of the signaling pathway governed by the Wnt protein, which is involved in a variety of cellular functions, such as cell differentiation.
The next step was to move from iPSCs to germ cell precursors. Once again, considerable experimentation went into developing the protocol for this transformation. The method that worked best involved adding a cocktail of growth factors to successfully prompt between 15-40% of their culture to take on the characteristics of these germ cell precursors.
“We were excited to see that efficiency and were able to expand our cultures, passaging them multiple times and seeing nice, exponential growth,” Sasaki says. “The cells maintained key germ cell markers but didn’t express other markers that are associated with the migration to the gonad.”
In a final stage of the study, the research team coaxed these lab-grown cells to take on the characteristics of later-stage germ cells. Based on a method Sasaki and colleagues had established earlier in human cells and reported in a 2020 Nature Communications paper, they cultured the cells with mouse testicular cells over the course of a month. The result was a successful growth with some cells beginning to turn on genes associated with later-stage sperm cell precursors.
Developing new approaches to study the marmoset sets up the Penn and University of Texas at San Antonio teams—as well as the scientific community in general—to make use of the species as an important research model. Marmosets, for example, have cognitive functioning that resembles that of humans in many ways and thus could lead to new insights in neuroscience.
For Sasaki’s group, most interested in development of the reproductive system, marmosets represent a new avenue for pursuing studies of normal and abnormal development as well as fertility.
“When you think about the clinical applications of an assisted reproductive technology like in vitro gametogenesis, there are a lot of ethical, legal, and safety concerns that could arise,” Sasaki says. “We definitely need a good preclinical model to explore before we move to human clinical translation.”

Rewiring Blood Cells To Give Rise To Precursors Of Sperm

Scientists Are Reincarnating the Woolly Mammoth to Return in 4 Years

• Colossal recently added $60 million in funding to move toward a 2027 de-extinction of the woolly mammoth.

• The Dallas-based company is now working to edit the genes for the reincarnation of the mammal.

• Colossal planned to reintroduce the woolly mammoth into Russia, but that may shift.

The long-dead woolly mammoth will make its return from extinction by 2027, says Colossal, the biotech company actively working to reincarnate the ancient beast.
Last year, the Dallas-based firm scored an additional $60 million in funding to continue the, well, mammoth gene-editing work it started in 2021. If successful, not only will Colossal bring back an extinct species—one the company dubs a cold-resistant elephant—but it will also reintroduce the woolly mammoth to the same ecosystem in which it once lived in an effort to fight climate change, according to a recent Medium post.
Scientists Are Reincarnating the Woolly Mammoth to Return in 4 Years

Einstein, teleportation and the mysterious 'Philadelphia Experiment'

Do you believe in alien life? Do you think time travel is possible? If you answered no to either, take a look at this story that supposedly took place in the United States during World War II. Imagine being on board a war ship that suddenly disappears into thin air and suddenly reappears somewhere else seconds later. Imagine you haven't just experienced teleportation, but you've time traveled a few years into the future. It may sound like something out of science fiction, but there is a theory that says this really happened to a U.S. Navy ship.
Einstein, teleportation and the mysterious 'Philadelphia Experiment'

Japan is mystified by a giant metal sphere that washed up on a beach,

• A metal sphere, 5 feet in diameter, washed up on a Japanese beach and has mystified authorities.

• The hollow ball is not explosive, and it could be just a buoy, authorities said. 

• Many have rejected this online, with some referencing the manga series "Dragon Ball" and Godzilla.

A mysterious iron sphere that washed up on a Japanese beach has baffled authorities and sent social-media users into a frenzy.
The metal ball is about 5 feet in diameter and recently appeared on Enshuhama Beach in the coastal city of Hamamatsu, NHK, a state broadcaster, reported.
A passerby reported it to police on Saturday, which prompted an inspection, but a local man told the outlet that the ball had sat there for more than a month, the outlet said.
The beach was subsequently cordoned off, with officials in protective clothing sent to inspect the object.
Masaki Matsukawa, a representative of the city's civil-engineering office, told NHK that the rust-pocked object had still not been identified. The office said it could be a buoy, the outlet reported — an explanation supported by the presence of two apparent metal handles sticking out of it.
Japan is mystified by a giant metal sphere that washed up on a beach, with some commentators suggesting it's Godzilla's egg

Look

The Most Perverted Acts Invisible People Have Committed in Movies

The age-old question of “what superpower would you choose” is a classic time-waster in the best possible way. Whether it’s completely open-ended or more specific, like choosing which of the X-Men you’d rather be, it’s an enjoyable subject for small talk and often leads to some deeply entertaining arguments about the limitations of eye lasers, etc. Among all the superpowers cooked up by the human imagination, though, there are two that seem to have a solid chokehold on the top of the hypothetical power hierarchy: the power of flight, and the power of invisibility.
Though it may seem simple, this specific face-off holds a lot more of a psychological underpinning than others. So much so that it’s even been covered in Psychology Today, and the subject of a widespread survey of different occupations and their tendencies in Forbes. The general leaning is this: People who want to be invisible have some dark shit going on. It’s the superpower of creeps and lechers, unlike the noble, beautiful act of flight.
That aside, it’s still a popular superpower, one that’s been featured to some degree in plenty of movies. Those movies, however, don’t often push back too hard on these assumptions. If someone’s invisible in a movie, especially a comedy, they’re almost definitely going to spend some time secretly peeking at someone else’s unmentionables.
Here are four of the creepiest invisibility moments in movies…
The Most Perverted Acts Invisible People Have Committed in Movies

Behind the Facade: 10 Cults Masquerading as Legitimate Organizations

What is a cult that pretends it’s not a cult? My favorite answer to this question is obvious every cult denies they’re a cult. However, I had to share when I stumbled into a thread of interesting responses.
Behind the Facade: 10 Cults Masquerading as Legitimate Organizations

Strangely Specific Secret Societies That Should Have Saved Us All

We all know about the Illuminati, who rule the world, and about the Freemasons, who also rule the world. The broad goal of world domination, however, held by so many secret societies, is perhaps too ambitious to achieve or too vague to define. Real heroes identify narrower causes, about which they feel truly passionately. That’s how we became blessed with such organizations as...
Strangely Specific Secret Societies That Should Have Saved Us All

Dirty Ink

The more conservative your sexual values, the more challenging it is to stick to them

A new study in the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy sought to investigate the relationship between sexual values and sexual incongruence as well as the effects of religiousness on this relationship. The findings indicate that religiousness predicts sexual incongruence, but not more than conservative sexual values, which demonstrated the most substantial relationship. Sexual congruence refers to the alignment of sexual values and behavior, while incongruence occurs when individuals engage in sexual behaviors that violate their moral beliefs. 

Past research has shown that religiousness is associated with greater sexual incongruence. In the new study, researchers Brinna Lee and Joshua Grubbs sought to add to the research literature a clearer picture of the roles that specific sexual values might play in the relationship between religiousness and sexual incongruence.
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The Basics of BDSM Negotiation

Negotiation is the backbone of consensual BDSM practices. In fact, negotiation and consent are the primary ways BDSM is distinguished from abuse. They are essential elements of kink play. BDSM without explicit understanding from both parties isn't consensual. Both parties need to be crystal clear on all terms to avoid the risk of coercive behaviors. Gaslighting, lies of omission and peer pressure are some common signs to watch out for when engaging in BDSM. Neither party should ever be forced, pressured or persuaded into doing something they aren't 100% okay with.
Even so, negotiation is often glossed over or sped through, even by experienced players, which is a shame -- and sometimes downright dangerous. Not only is negotiation one of the most valuable ways to keep yourself and your partner safe, but -- when done correctly -- it’s also part of the fun.
Whether you start the conversation in person, by email or by text, negotiation can be akin to flirting and dirty talk. You’re sorting through a whole world of possibilities and deciding what you’d like to do together; that’s exciting stuff!
Here are some of the key points to cover during your BDSM negotiation:
The Basics of BDSM Negotiation

Ending with a self portrait ...