cell phone signals linked to male infertility

The good news is, overpopulation will no longer be a threat.

The bad news is, if you’re a surgeon who specializes in vasectomies, it’s time to find another field.

Start your denial engines, everyone:

DailyMail: Men who use mobile phones face increased risk of infertility

Men who use mobile phones could be risking their fertility, warn researchers.

A new study shows a worrying link between poor sperm and the number of hours a day that a man uses his mobile phone.

Those who made calls on a mobile phone for more than four hours a day had the worst sperm counts and the poorest quality sperm, according to results released yest at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine annual meeting in New Orleans.

Doctors believe the damage could be caused by the electromagnetic radiation emitted by handsets or the heat they generate.

montezuma’s continuing revenge

Eventually we will all wake up and realize that smoking is a terrible revenge delivered to us by the Native Americans in return for the theft of their land. That day is coming. Smoking’s realities will far outweigh its attractions, and finally it will be considered about as acceptable as public nose picking.

Tobacco companies dread that day, of course — and they’re not above using deception and exploitation to delay its arrival.

Consider, for example, the fact that cigarette manufacturers have increased the amount of nicotine in cigarrettes by ten percent over the last six years:

to snip or not to snip?

Furor over male circumcision is rising. Only postmodern hostility toward traditional religion could stir up controversy over a successful public health policy several thousand years old. Still, rather than react against that hostility, it’s important to keep in mind this crucial principle:

Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts.
- from I Corinthians chapter 7

Christians therefore have no legitimate religious motivation for defending circumcision. The battle is strictly secular, and should be left that way.

circum-decision

For the first time since November 2005, a new piece has been posted on theforester.net.

Circum-decision chronicles how my wife and I wavered back and forth for months over whether we would circumcise our son. It stabs at several modes along the way: humorous, informative, philosophical, confessional.

Is it possible to keep a reader's interest in 3,000 words on a topic as unpleasant as circumcision? That's the experiment, as always: if you found this piece blowing around on the street, picked it up and started to read, would you finish it?

Does it succeed? Maybe; maybe not. At least it probes two profound questions about the human condition:

• Shouldn't a son look like his father?
• How could he not?

Enjoy …

so cool it’s frigid

Smoking is often viewed by both Hollywood and nonconformists as rebellious, edgy, cool. If anything has the power to change that impression, it’s studies like this one from Britain:

Action on Smoking and Health: WARNING: Smoking causes male impotence

Smoking increases the risk of erectile dysfunction by around 50% for men in their 30s and 40s.

On the basis of these risks and the prevalence of smoking in the UK, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and the British Medical Association (BMA) estimate that up to 120,000 UK men in their 30s and 40s are impotent as a direct consequence of smoking. This figure is likely to be an underestimate, because it does not include impotence due to previous smoking in men who no longer smoke.

happiness works

Are you happy because you’re successful, or are you successful because you’re happy? A recent study suggests that the cause and effect relationship we’d expect may in fact be flipped:

no such thing as unleaded blood

If you were born in 1970 or later, you may wonder why gas is referred to as “unleaded.” It’s hard to believe that a substance so toxic that it disrupts almost every neurotransmitter in the human brain was once poured into every gas tank and burned in every car engine around the world, pumping lead into the air we breathe. Why? Lead reduces engine knocking. (This breakthrough brought to you by the marvels of modern science.)

Now that lead has been removed from gasoline and interior paint, we’re all safe, right? Think again.

killing causes mental legacy

New research indicates that women who kill their unborn children can face “five years of mental anguish, anxiety, guilt and even shame.� A recent tactic by pro-abortion forces has been to refer to abortion and miscarriage in the same sentence, as if the two are equivalent. But this study reveals that they cause quite different emotional responses in women:

breast milk and diabetes

The benefits of breastfeeding continue — this time for mothers:

BBC: Breastfeeding ‘good for mothers’

Interestingly, the risk of type 2 diabetes reduces more with each breastfed child.

noise kills

Two recent studies reveal the effect of noise on health.

First, researchers have shown that excessive environmental noise (from airports, loud workplaces, etc.) increases a man’s risk of heart attack by 50%, and a woman’s by a full 300%. Regular exposure to levels as low as 60 decibels are dangerous:

Times Online: Noise link to danger of heart attack

Other research into marine life shows that whales and dolphins are exhibiting hearing loss and bleeding inside the brain and ears, thanks to Navy sonar. In addition, sonar has been linked to dolphin and whale beachings (here’s one article and another), and may be preventing the animals from finding each other to mate:

CNN: Marine life suffering from ocean noise

cuddle that kid!

There’s not much room for “tough love” when dealing with a baby. Measures like allowing babies to cry on their own in order to become more independent actually alter their brain chemistry to prevent them from forming healthy relationships later in life:

DailyMail: Lifelong benefits of cuddling your baby

In a flood of health research that tells you to eat healthy, exercise more, take medications, it’s nice to come across a study that advocates nothing more difficult, or more fun, than snuggling with your kid.

rethinking colds

It’s always fun when science comes full circle and ends up confirming the very superstitions it originally attempted to refute:

CNN: “Wrap up” advice to stop cold

So who’s dumber — the people in the past, who for centuries avoided drafts for fear of becoming sick? … or those of us in the present, who have unwisely followed the counter-intuitive advice that being cold has nothing to do with catching a cold?

virgins stun the world

It’s a sad commentary on our society when a group of teenagers talking about remaining chaste before marriage makes world headlines:

CNN: Princeton group promotes chastity

These college students are rightly offended at the baseline assumption that, simply because of their age, they will act irresponsibly regarding sex. Despite media messages to the contrary, not everyone is reckless. You have a choice.

start scarfing fish

Watch out, tunas! I’m coming after you:

CNN: Study: Fish-eaters stay sharper with age

People who eat two fish meals a week show a thirteen percent slower decline in mental function.

ophtha-what?

The good news: After gobs of spacey medical tests, in turns out I don’t have glaucoma. Instead, I have really buff corneas that repel any attempt to measure my eye pressure.

The even-better news: In the process of confirming my glaucomalessness, I discovered the long-secret difference between optician/optometrist/opthalmologist:

Optician — rhymes with “technician.” Works in a mall. Orders your glasses using the coupon you brought in from the paper. In a pinch: “There might be a problem with your eyes. Go see an optometrist.”

Optometrist — longer name than “optician,” due to more education. Works in a medical office; uses fancy terms. Orders your glasses from a distributor that offers no coupons. In a pinch: “There’s definitely a problem with your eyes. Go see an ophthalmologist.”

Opthalmologist — needs a medical degree to spell and pronounce “opthalmologist.” Works in a hospital; uses fancy machines. Would never consider wasting time by ordering your glasses. In a pinch: “How soon can we get you in for surgery?”