Research

60 to 100 million: Number of condoms that are improperly disposed of each year in the U.K. 7/8: Ratio of sex toys tested which contained phthalates (in concentrations ranging from 24 to 51 percent), to all toys tested, in a study conducted for Greenpeace Netherlands. Almost 50 percent: Number of pregnancies in the U.S. which…continue reading.

A recent survey suggests that Canadians prefer bacon to sex. The survey, conducted by Angus Reid for Maple Leaf Foods, discovered 43 percent of Canadians would take the nomy goodness that is bacon over a romp. “We wanted to probe how deeply rooted Canadians’ passion for bacon is — and the For the Love of…continue reading.

It looks like marriage is a sweet deal after all–for dudes. A new Pew Research Center report has uncovered that a larger share of today’s men, compared with their 1970 counterparts, are married to women whose education and income exceed their own, and a larger share of women are married to men with less education…continue reading.

Good morning! How about a little pseudo-science to kick off the day? A study by the University of California, Santa Barbara is suggesting that blondes are more “warlike” than brunettes and redheads. The researchers, led by Aaron Sell, speculate that this aggression comes from a lifetime of attracting more attention than women with darker hair…continue reading.

A report published recently in the Royal Society’s Biology Letters journal suggests that female cane toads inflate to prevent the male from being able to take hold and have their way with them. It was widely believed that frogs and toads evolved this ability to inflate their bodies with air to appear larger and thus…continue reading.

“How long does it last?!” I screamed at Melissa, startling the barista at the westside Starbucks who’d taken my order. “It’s like a fucking gash that feels like a fucking ton on my fucking chest,” I said, referring to the recent conclusion of a relationship. “HOW LONG DOES IT LAST?” “I… I don’t know,” she…continue reading.

Women seeking to connect with the transcendent have more sex, more sexual partners, and are less likely to use a condom. That’s one way to read the results of a finding from a recent study from the University of Kentucky. Now, most of our empirical knowledge in psychology comes from experiments on white mice and…continue reading.

Well-known for its bias toward male children and gender-specific abortions, it comes as no surprise to us here at Sex and the 405 that by 2020 Chinese men will have no one to woo or wed. A study by the government-backed Chinese Academy of Social Sciences found that gender imbalance among newborns is the most…continue reading.

If you’re worried what your mom will say about your girlfriend’s tramp stamp, you can fear no more–research is on your side! A new study by researchers at Texas Tech University who studied piercings and tats for the last decade suggests the relationship between body art and deviant behavior is significant only for those who…continue reading.

OMG, ever wonder why male fruit flies have spikes in their genital areas? Yeah, me neither, but scientists are starting to figure it out, so I’m going to share with you: male fruit flies use these spikes to hook onto the female and prevent sliding during sex. They “hook up”–literally! Get it? Not very long…continue reading.