I think my umbilical hernia is getting bigger. I’ve had it since my pregnancy over five years ago, the result of diastasis, a situation where the abdominal muscles pull apart from the baby taking up so much darn room. I’ve consulted with a surgeon, and the hernia is tiny, not worth fixing until I’m done [...]

You all must forgive me for this blog post. You see, I am in my premenstrual phase, and so with all my insane-o premenstrual symptoms I simply cannot access the part of my brain that makes political decisions. Perhaps when I get through the devastation and physical wreckage we ladies like to think of as [...]

The idea for this post came from a question I received when a guest on Skeptically Speaking: is menstrual blood an attractant to bears? Scicurious has since covered that paper in her usual delightful way, and I’m going to focus more on cultural issues and deer. Yes, deer. * * * That’s right ladies, it’s [...]

This is a re-post, with slight editing, of a piece I wrote on the old blog after last year’s AAPA meetings. I would like to keep thinking on this topic so thought I would share this before I write anything new for the Sci Am space. Variation in adolescent menstrual cycles, doctor-patient relationships, and why [...]

In parts 1 and 2 of the vaginal pH redux, I have of course spent the majority of my time discussing vaginal acidity. You might have noticed a layer of the conversation beginning to assert itself, though, concerning vaginal microbial communities, or vaginal flora. The interplay between the composition of the vaginal microbial community and [...]

Readers of this blog are already aware that their vaginas are at their best when they are on the acidic side. Vaginal flora is healthy, bacterial overgrowth is at a minimum, and any foreign bodies that want to pass through are firmly discouraged. Semen and douching can increase pH, douching especially so since the liquid [...]

  As many of you have already heard, I was a guest on Skeptically Speaking a few weeks ago, on the topic of why women menstruate. PZ Myers tackled the evolutionary perspective first, and then I got to answer audience questions and talk a little about my own research. Because I think it’s important for [...]

It’s the end of 2011, and I have a number of reasons to celebrate: a wonderful family, a wonderful job, a fun gig at SciAm, a roller derby season about to start back up again, and Science Online 2012 in a few short weeks. It’s the time of year to reflect on what we have [...]

Tenth grade, at the lockers just before homeroom. My good friend Julie and I put away our coats. “How are you?” she asks. “Ugh,” I say. “I have a soccer game today but” – and here my voice drops to a whisper – “I got my period this morning.” Julie looks back at me, wide-eyed. [...]

I have accumulated readers to the point that I occasionally receive emails, tweets and other things that ask me to point my eyes, which happen to also be Laser Beams of Ladybusiness Justice, upon some ridiculous article. Usually it’s evolutionary psychology. Today, it was a factually inaccurate, embarrassing, horribly wrong and honestly not-funny blog post [...]