Sometimes science is hands on.
Really hands on.
Hey everyone, Julian here for DNews.
Rule 35 is: if it exists, there is a scientist studying it.
Rocks?
Got it.
Space?
You bet.
Rocks in space?
Oh yeah, someone is all over that.
But sometimes, in the quest to seek out knowledge wherever it may be hiding, scientists have
to get their hands dirty.
And sticky.
Sometimes they have to spank the monkey...literally.
It’s not just done for enjoyment, although I’m sure the monkey doesn’t mind.
How orgasms fit into our evolution is still a bit of a question mark.
What purpose do they serve?
Males orgasms are usually tied to a release of sperm, so if ejaculating feels good in
the short term then it’s more likely to breed more offspring long term.
That makes sense.
But females can have offspring with or without a climax, so why do they happen?
Explanations vary.
Maybe the sensation is enjoyable enough that seeking it out is worth the risk of copulating,
which leaves you a bit exposed to predators in the wild.
Or since humans start out developing the same in the womb, the same structure that becomes
the penis in men is the clitoris in women, so maybe it’s just vestigial.
If that’s the case, is it only other primates that have male and female orgasms?
Did it start with mammals 65 million years ago or are there other animals that can experience
it too?
These are the questions scientists aim to answer with their hands on experiments.
Like in a 1981 Institute of Primate Studies study where psychologist William Lemmon had
his grad student bring female chimps to orgasm by hand.
Or at least what they think was an orgasm, based on the muscle contractions and facial
expressions.
Of course they couldn’t ask the chimp directly if it orgasmed, so it is possible it faked
it so it wouldn’t hurt his feelings.
Either way I think we can all agree no one has done more to earn a master's degree than
those students.
They even reported one chimp climaxed on ten separate occasions, which, ok, now you’re
just showing off.
But even though it may sound silly, these experiments demonstrated that yes, other female
primates can orgasm too, and the female orgasm might be an evolutionary advantage we picked
up from a distant relative.
Other times scientists *ahem* stimulate animals because they just want to know what’s up
with animal sex.
Like Patricia Brennan of Yale University who wanted to know how ducks get down.
Most birds mate by pressing rear ends together and exchanging fluids.
Not ducks.
Ducks have crazy corkscrew penises that they shoot out of their body.
Female ducks have vaginas that can corkscrew in the opposite direction.
To see how that affected mating, Brennan waited until a male was just about to mount a female,
then quack jacked them, swapping the female for one of 4 oddly shaped tubes.
She found that certain shapes were much harder for males to enter.
She noted that a female that actually wants to mate with a male can relax and position
itself to be more receptive, but otherwise she can make it more difficult to copulate,
avoiding unwanted fertilization.
Ducks are among the 3% of bird species that have penises, and one species, the red-billed
buffalo weaver, actually has a false penis that serves no reproductive purpose.
It has no sperm duct and doesn’t become erect.
Yet females seem to prefer males with larger fake phalluses.
And when it’s stimulated the males do seem to achieve orgasm.
How do scientists know this?
Because they did it themselves.
Why it works?
They don’t know.
More research is needed.
Science isn’t all microscopes and behavior observations.
Sometimes to further scientific studies we have to look closely at what we may see as
taboo.
But remember, sex, orgasms and semen are part of life.
And understanding them will help us understand us.
Scientists aren’t just interested in the orgasms, they also study sperm.
And they’ve found some little swimmers that went freestyle.
Laci and Alex break it down here.
Will it be you who boldly goes where no human man has gone before?
Or would you rather not watch how they do it on the Discovery Channel?
Let us know in the comments, subscribe for more and I’ll see you next time on DNews.