UPDATED: 10:35 a.m. EDT October 1, 2002
CHICAGO -- A study in the October issue of the British Journal of Urology International concludes that the size of a man's penis does not correlate to his shoe size -- despite a popular misconception.
Researchers measured the foot size of men who wear size 8 through 13 shoes and compared the foot size to the size of the men's penises, according to the report.
University of Chicago urologist Dr. Greg Bales told the Chicago Sun-Times that foot length, as well as the size of a man's hand, finger and nose have often been said to correspond to a man's penis size.
"But, in my own observations and from talking to colleagues, there appears to be no obvious correspondence," Bales told the newspaper.
But British researchers continue to look for a link between the length of the penis and the length of other body parts, according to the report.
Bales told the Sun-Times that he's not surprised in the continuing research.
"I worked in the U.K. for six months," Bales told the paper. "There clearly was a greater interest in penile size among the Brits than the Americans."
http://www.nbc4columbus.com/health/1695852/detail.html
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An ejaculation a day keeps the doctor away
Thu Jul 17, 7:33 AM ET
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Frequent masturbation may be really good for you.
Research by Australia's Cancer Council Victoria found that the more often men ejaculate between the ages of 20 and 50, the less likely they are to suffer the disease that kills more than half a million men each year.
The survey of 1,079 prostate cancer (news - web sites) patients and 1,259 healthy men found that those who masturbated or had sex at least once a day in their 20s were a third less likely to develop the malady.
"For men in their 50s of course that's often not achievable," Graham Giles, who led the research team, told Reuters on Thursday.
"(But) masturbation isn't bad for you. I don't believe in the blindness and hairy palms theory. Prohibitions against ejaculations are not based on science," he said.
The study, conducted between 1994 and 1998 but still being analysed,
did not focus specifically on masturbation. Nevertheless, it was the
largest so far to ask participants not just about
their sexual relations but also about masturbation, and to analyse the
answers.
Giles said the findings correlate with previous research that showed Roman Catholic priests were 30 percent more likely to get prostate cancer, but they contradict other studies that suggested having a variety of partners or frequent sex could lift the risk.
One theory that could explain the new results is that semen may have a carcinogenic effect on the cells lining the prostatic ducts if not flushed regularly out of the pipes by ejaculations.
The research is due to be published in this weekend's British Journal of Urology International.
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LONDRES (Reuters) 2005- Des chercheurs britanniques se sont intéressés à la taille du cerveau des oiseaux et ont conclu que la taille de la cervelle influait sur les capacités d'adaptation des volatiles à leur environnement.
Contrairement aux mésanges bleues et aux pies, les perdrix grises et les bruants, dont la taille du cerveau est relativement petite par rapport à leur corpulence, ont vu leur population fortement régresser, selon l'étude conduite par l'association The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) et les universités de Liverpool et Birmingham.
"Un gros cerveau peut permettre aux oiseaux de faire face aux problèmes et d'adapter leur comportement à mesure que leur environnement change", indique le principal auteur de l'étude et ancienne membre de la RSPB, Suzanne Shultz, chercheur à l'université de Liverpool.
"Mais les oiseaux qui ont une petite cervelle par rapport à leur taille semble être en déclin parce qu'il n'arrivent à se débrouiller."
Non seulement l'environnement des volatiles change à cause de l'activité humaine telle que l'agriculture, soulignent les chercheurs, mais aussi à cause du réchauffement climatique et de l'effet de serre, ajoutent-ils.
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BERLIN (AFP) - Les canaris femelles pondent des oeufs plus gros
lorsqu'elles ont auparavant écouté des chansons d'amour,
et se montrent plus enclines à des relations avec le sexe
opposé lorsqu'elles écoutent de tels morceaux, selon une
étude britannico-allemande.
"Plus la chanson est attrayante, plus les oeufs pondus sont gros", a
expliqué jeudi Stefan Leitner, de l'Institut ornithologique
Max-Planck de Seewiesen, près de Munich (sud), qui a
mené l'étude en collaboration avec l'Université
royale Holloway de Londres.
Lors de tests pratiqués sur 45 canaris domestiques femelles, les chercheurs ont constaté que les oiseaux réagissaient à des "chansons sexy" et qu'ils adoptaient alors un comportement de copulation, même en l'absence de partenaire mâle.