Shop
 Explore 

A female scientist’s discovery may lead to the first 'on-demand' male birth control pill

“Men need an option so that the burden of contraception is not on females anymore,” says Dr. Melanie Balbach.

birth control, makle contraception, male pill

via Free Images

Close up of a man taking a pill.

Even though men have condoms and vasectomies, throughout history, the burden of contraception has ultimately been felt by women because they bear the ultimate responsibility if they become pregnant. To maintain their reproductive freedom, women must take hormone-altering pills, wear patches or insert hormone-filled rings into their vaginas.

They also deal with copper IUDs, shots and spermicide-soaked sponges.

Women also have to manage the cost and hassle of doctors' visits to get their contraception and are at the mercy of the state if they have an unwanted pregnancy. Isn’t it time more men stepped up and took responsibility for contraception?

The good news is that new medical development may provide hope for the countless women who are tired of the pills, IUDs and headaches that come with female contraceptives. The cool thing is that a woman is behind its discovery.

A new pill developed by Weill Cornell Medicine could become the first “on-demand” male oral contraceptive. The drug has been found to stop sperm “in their tracks” and prevents pregnancies in preclinical models.

The pill is fast-acting and can have a man ready for sex 30 to 60 minutes before intercourse. That’s about as long as it takes for Viagra to work its magic.

"Our inhibitor works within 30 minutes to an hour," Dr. Melanie Balbach, a postdoctoral associate in their lab, said in a statement. "Every other experimental hormonal or nonhormonal male contraceptive takes weeks to bring sperm count down or render them unable to fertilize eggs."

The inhibitor was discovered by Dr. Balbach accidentally while working on a treatment for an eye condition. Dr. Balbach found that when mice took a drug that inactivates soluble adenylyl cyclase (sAC), they produced sperm that could not propel themselves through the vaginal tract.

Research shows that men who cannot produce sAC due to genetic mutations are infertile.

After the drug takes hold, the sperm are rendered useless for about 24 hours and then return to normal. So, the drug is not only fast acting but rapidly reversible.

“What I like about the proposed contraceptive in this study is the on-demand option,” says Ulrike Schimpf at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden. “It would act rapidly, temporarily, and is efficient at the first dose.”

The discovery could be a sea change in how males approach contraception. But some are rightfully afraid that men may lie about taking the pill in the heat of the moment.

This is the 1st compound I’d trust since I could watch them swallow the pill.

Those who produce sperm face little risk; when it doesn’t work, they’re not stuck in a legal & medical mess.

A Novel Male Birth Control Could Be an ‘On-Off Switch for Sperm’ https://t.co/Kijr1cAo7y
— CZEdwards (@CZEdwards) February 14, 2023

I’m a woman who wants to get cozy with a guy but not risk pregnancy. He says he’s on the guy pill. Do I trust him?
— Bicycle Boy (@mcandrus) February 14, 2023

Would you trust a man to take it though??
— Emma Pells (@Pellsee) February 14, 2023

After all these years that women have had to bear the burden of responsibility, there’s something poignant about the first potential male contraceptive pill being discovered by a woman.

“We need more [birth control] options, and men need an option so that the burden of contraception is not on females anymore,” Balbach told New Scientist. “We’re very optimistic that once men take the inhibitor, it will have the same effect.”

Dr. Balbach and Dr. Jochen Buck, a professor of pharmacology at Weill Cornell Medicine, are currently working to develop a new version of the drug that lasts longer before testing it on humans. They hope to go to clinical trials by 2025.

From Your Site Articles

Women working in Africa’s cocoa farms have received business education programs for 15 years. Here’s how that benefits the entire world.

All images provided by CARE & Cargill

The impact of the CARE and Cargill partnership goes beyond empowering cocoa farmers

True

Cocoa, the key ingredient found in your favorite chocolate bar, has been a highly revered food product throughout human history. It’s been used for religious ceremonies in Peru, royal feasts in England and France, traded as currency for the ancient Mayans. And considering that many of us enjoy chocolate on a regular basis (mochas and candy bars, anyone?) it seems like that love is still going strong even today.

And if you are someone who looks forward to that sweet chocolate pick-me-up on a regular basis, you likely have the women of West Africa to thank.

Women like Barbara Sika Larweh, a mother of six who works as a cocoa farmer in Larwehkrom, a community located within the Sefwi Wiawso Municipality in the Western North Region of Ghana.

care, cargill Mama Cash now empowers other women to gain independence

Nearly 60% of the world’s cocoa comes from both Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, where Barbara and other mothers make up over half of the labor force. These female cocoa farmers shoulder the same physical burden as their male counterparts—all while also running households and paying for their children to go to school. And yet, they typically don’t receive equal income. Nor do they have access to the resources that could help them achieve financial independence.

Thankfully, positive changes are taking place. Barbara’s story exemplifies the impact of programs offered by CARE and Cargill, such as Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA), which are small groups that offer low-interest loans to individuals living in poverty, helping them to build savings without going into devastating debt.

Through these initiatives, women, like Barbara, are equipped with vital knowledge like financial literacy to improve household incomes, sustainable agriculture practices that improve yields, and nutrition education to diversify their family’s diets.

“They came and trained me on the VSLA. I dedicated myself and volunteered so that I would be able to train my people, too,” Barbara explains.

Within the first year of using the programs, Barbara and the people she trained profited—earning her the nickname of “Mama Cash.”

This is no isolated event. In cocoa-growing communities supported by CARE and Cargill programming between 2019-2022, the number of households living below the national poverty line decreased by nearly 32% in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana - as a direct result of increasing and diversifying income through using these programs.

Like Barbara, who today is an executive member of the Community Development Committee, more than 2.4 million women have used their success as entrepreneurs to transform into leaders and decision-makers within their communities. Whether it’s giving most of their earnings back to their families, reducing child labor, or exponentially increasing overall farm yields, the rippling effect is profound.

The impact of the CARE and Cargill partnership goes beyond empowering cocoa farmers. The joint initiatives have fostered progress on complex global issues related to social justice, such as gender equality, climate change, and food security. By improving access to quality nutrition, water, and hygiene, the joint programs have positively influenced the cocoa communities’ well-being.

Suddenly there’s a lot more to think about the next time you eat a candy bar.

Find out more about the important partnership between CARE and Cargill here.

From Your Site Articles

Instacart delivery person followed her instincts and ended up saving the life of a customer

"You're supposed to take a picture and leave, and I could not just leave."

@JessicaHiggs3/TikTok

Jessica Higgs had a sense that something wasn't right at a customer's house and her action saved his life.

One the more mysterious aspects of being human is our sense of intuition. This "sixth sense" isn't something we can see or measure, but many people have experienced it in some form or fashion. Maybe it comes as a strong feeling that something isn't right, or that we or someone else should or shouldn't do something. It can be hard to read—not every feeling we get is truly our intuition—but there are plenty of examples of people trusting their instincts and being glad they did.

One such story has gone viral on TikTok. Jessica Higgs, a mom who works as an Instacart grocery delivery person, shared a story in an emotional video that illustrates the importance of listening to that inner voice when it prompts you to make sure someone is OK.

"I just want to start this off by saying if you see something, say something," Higgs said.

Keep ReadingShow less

Facebook group rallies to reunite members with long lost childhood items

Total strangers helped this woman find her favorite childhood toy

True

Many of us associate connection with social media: connection to the world, to friends and family, and perhaps even to others who share their ideas and hobbies.

Sometimes, that connection can restore old relationships or begin new ones. For Mavis Moon, however, social media is what helped reunite her with a long-lost family member: a blue, stuffed toy dog.

Moon was raised by her grandfather, who struggled with chronic health problems. One day when they were home alone, he suffered a massive heart attack. She immediately dialed 9-1-1, and when the emergency responders who arrived on the scene recognized how traumatized she was after witnessing the event, they consoled her with a blue stuffed dog. Her grandfather eventually recovered, and from that day forward she was never without her dog. He became a member of the family.

The stuffed animal brought her security and comfort. It was such an integral part of her life that her grandfather would carry it around when she couldn’t—he could always be counted on to be in the stands at her basketball games, holding up the dog to cheer for her. That stuffed animal went everywhere she went for years, until one devastating day when she lost him at a local fair.

Keep ReadingShow less

Hawk drops snake on Texas woman, then tries to take it back in real-life horror story

File this under "things you didn't want to know were possible."

NPS/Kurt Moses (Public Domain)

Snakes are prey for hawks, but humans aren't usually involved in the hunt.

You know how sometimes you read a story that seems like it couldn't possibly be true, and when you find out it is, you think, "Yeah, I didn't actually need to know that could happen"?

This is one of those stories. And I'm only a little bit sorry for sharing it because it's also one of those stories where every detail gets more and more incredible (or in this case, worse and so much worse). I mean, it's a real-life story that starts with a snake falling out of the sky, for crying out loud. Cue the horror soundtrack.

Peggy Jones, 64, told Fox 26 Houston that she was driving her riding lawnmower in the yard of her home in Silsbee, Texas, when out of nowhere, a snake landed on her from above. Before she could even wrap her mind around what was happening, the snake coiled itself around her arm and began to strike at her face, repeatedly hitting her glasses.

That would be more than enough all by itself, but that's not where this horror story ends. The hawk that had presumably dropped the snake really wanted it back.

Keep ReadingShow less

wild nature stories

After a tragic birth story out of Atlanta, an OBGYN breaks down 'maneuvers of last resort'

"A shoulder dystocia, if you don't know, is an obstetric emergency."

Dr. Fatima Daoud|TikTok

OB-GYN breaks down shoulder dystocia after tragedy in Atlanta.

TRIGGER WARNING: This story contains graphic details of childbirth trauma and infant loss.

A couple in Atlanta, Georgia, experienced a devastating loss that by all stretches of the imagination seems impossible. Unfortunately, the unimaginable is one of the rarest of rare birth complications that resulted in the loss of their newborn son.

Jessica Ross and her partner, Treveon Taylor, were excitedly awaiting the delivery of their first child when during the pushing stage of labor, baby Treveon Taylor Jr.'s shoulder got stuck. According to the Cleveland Clinic, shoulder dystocia is when one or both of the baby's shoulders get stuck behind a bone in the pelvis, which doesn't allow the baby to exit the birth canal.

Ross found herself in this very situation, which eventually resulted in an emergency situation in which the doctor had to dislodge the baby from the pelvis and perform a Cesarean section. It is suspected that the force with which the baby was dislodged caused the infant's decapitation.

Keep ReadingShow less

childbirth complications

'We're naming a child, not a dog': Man fights with wife over naming baby 'Zoomer'

Has the unusual baby name trend gone too far or is he stuck in the past?

via Polina Zimmerman/Pexels

A couple arguing over what to name their baby

Over the past decade or so, there has been a trend of parents choosing to give their children unique names. “We are deep in an era of naming individuality, where parents assume that having a [name] sound distinctive and unique is a virtue,” Laura Wattenberg, the founder of the naming-trends site Namerology, told The Atlantic.

There are multiple reasons for this change in American culture. One is that people have fewer children, so their uniqueness has become more important for parents. Another is that baby name data has pushed parents to go to further lengths to come up with names that won’t make them the third John or second Maria in a classroom.

The internet has also played a role in the change. People with unique names stand out online. Good luck if you’re looking on Facebook for a former classmate named Matt Smith.

Keep ReadingShow less