Tag Archives: menstrual cycle

What do women want? It depends on the time of the month

UCLA researchers publish landmark meta-analysis of sexual preferences at ovulation

If she loves you and then she loves you not, don’t blame the petals of that daisy. Blame evolution.

UCLA researchers analyzed dozens of published and unpublished studies on how women’s preferences for mates change throughout the menstrual cycle. Their findings suggest that ovulating women have evolved to prefer mates who display sexy traits – such as a masculine body type and facial features, dominant behavior and certain scents – but not traits typically desired in long-term mates. (more…)

Read More

Protein interplay in muscle tied to life span

Brown University biologists have uncovered a complicated chain of molecular events that leads from insulin to protein degradation in muscles and significantly diminished life span in fruit flies. The new study in PLoS Genetics, which may have broad implications across species, identifies the fly version of the mammalian protein activin as the central culprit in the process.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Fruit flies are notoriously short-lived but scientists interested in the biology of aging in all animals have begun to understand why some fruit flies live longer than others. They have documented a direct association between insulin and life span, for example, and have observed a tradeoff between prolific reproduction and longevity. A new study, which may have broad implications across species, ties those findings more closely together by tracing an insulin signaling cascade through to protein quality control in muscle tissue and shortened life span. (more…)

Read More

Yoga: How true it reduces heart disease risk

The most common form of heart disease affecting humans is the Coronary Artery Disease. The disease portrays acute build-up of cholesterol in the layers of the arteries constituting the heart. The blockage induces a phenomenal slowed down blood circulation. The left auricle functions in generating the signals dubbed as heart beats. As a result of the incrementing inadvertent blockage the muscles keep panting due to the lack of supply of blood to the muscles. Since the blood supply to the muscles are snapped to an instance, the muscles are forced to reciprocate to the bodily functions. The plaques present in the arterial walls of all humans suffice huge pressure in the process which may lead to weakening and thereby a crack in the arterial wall. Again this may concur with unforeseen blood clot in the region. This compromising blood clot, topped with blockage sustaining in the arteries lead to the preponderances of heart attacks. (more…)

Read More

Prejudice Linked to Women’s Menstrual Cycle

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Women’s bias against male strangers increases when women are fertile, suggesting prejudice may be partly fueled by genetics, according to a study by Michigan State University psychology researchers.

The study, funded by the National Science Foundation, appears online in Psychological Science, a major research journal.

“Our findings suggest that women’s prejudice, at least in part, may be a byproduct of their biology,” said Melissa McDonald, a doctoral student and lead author on the paper. (more…)

Read More