This week brings us some fascinating stories about that thing that’s almost always on everyone’s mind: sex. Here are some interesting stories about a marriage equality-advocating snail, the perils of ocean sex and why getting laid is good for your brain.
1. Hermaphrodite snails can be used to promote gay marriage
In what must be huge and exciting news to the community of people interested in snail species classification, a new snail species has been discovered. What makes this story relevant to the rest of us is the name the researchers in Taiwan decided to give the newly identified species: Aegista diversifamilia. The name, which means diverse family, was chosen to send a message and make a statement, as Dr. Yen-Chang explained. The snails “are hermaphrodite animals, which means they have both male and female reproductive organs in single individual. They represent the diversity of sex orientation in the animal kingdom. We decided that maybe this is a good occasion to name the snail to remember the struggle for the recognition of same-sex marriage rights."
Lest you think it’s totes inappropes to name a species after something creative or current-events related, you’ll be glad to know that scientists named a beetle after Arnold Schwarzenegger because of its biceps-like legs, a lichen after Barack Obama to recognize his support of science, and perhaps most appropriately slime mold beetles after George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld.
2. Your brain wants more sex, fewer crossword puzzles.
Now you no longer have to wrestle between what your brain says and what your heart (read genitals) wants. Because it turns out your brain wants you to have more sex. Or at least it should. Unless it’s a masochist. Sex helps the brain in several ways. Sex can decrease anxiety by releasing hormones including oxytocin, dopamine, serotonin, which improve people’s moods.
Studies have linked sex to neurogenesis, or the creation of new neurons in the brain, cell growth in the hippocampus, which can in turn help prevent memory loss and dementia. Another study found that orgasms bring more blood to the brain, which means more nutrients and oxygen. Things like crossword puzzles, sudoku and memory games only work on more localized regions. Sorry, people who prefer sudoku to sex and pretend it’s for the sake of their brains.
3. Conservatives aren’t so conservative about sex searches online.
A new study found that people who live in more religious and more conservative states are more likely to google sex. The study differentiated between politically conservative states, where people are more likely to search for things like “gay sex, free porn and xxx,” and religiously conservatives states where the searches were not for "non-traditional" sex, per se.Accordingto the study, "It may be that these 'sex' searches were conducted with the intention of delivering 'traditional' sexual content (e.g., information regarding monogamous, married, heterosexual sex)."
4. Sea sex can cause suction so strong couples are literally stuck to each other.
It turns out the old adage, “Don’t have sex in the sea or you will get stuck to person you’re having sex with” is true. OK. That adage doesn’t exist. But maybe it should, as one couple learned the hard way. After engaging in sea sex off of Italy’s Porto San Giorgio, the two lovers discovered that they were literally stuck to each other. The man was unable to remove himself from the woman because of suction. They were taken to the hospital where they were pulled apart after a doctor gave the woman an injection to dilate her uterus.
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