Episode Details

Today you’ll learn about how scientists are developing a form of birth control for men, why humans need more sleep during the winter, and how whales are giving up singing their love songs in favor of fighting for mates.

Male Contraceptive  

• “Sperm-Slowing Male Contraceptive Reversibly Inhibits Mouse Fertility” by Ruairi J Mackenzie
  • https://www.technologynetworks.com/drug-discovery/news/sperm-slowing-male-contraceptive-reversibly-inhibits-mouse-fertility-370207
• “On-demand male contraception via acute inhibition of soluble adenylyl cyclase” by Melanie Balbach et al.
  • https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-36119-6

Winter Snooze

• “Humans ‘may need more sleep in winter’, study finds” by Jane Clinton
  • https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/feb/17/humans-may-need-more-sleep-in-winter-study-finds
• “Seasonality of human sleep: Polysomnographic data of a neuropsychiatric sleep clinic” by Aileen Seidler et al.
  • https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2023.1105233/full
• “Feeling tired? Humans may need more sleep during the winter, new study suggests” by Wyatte Grantham-Philips
  • https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2023/02/21/more-sleep-needed-winter-study/11280016002/
• “Humans need more sleep in the winter” by Alison Bosman
  • https://www.earth.com/news/humans-need-more-sleep-in-the-winter-season/

Whale Fight Songs

• “Whales give up singing to fight for love” by UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND
  • https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/979939
• “Post-whaling shift in mating tactics in male humpback whales” by Rebecca Dunlop & Celine Frere
  • https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-023-04509-7
• “Global whaling peaked in the 1960s” by Hannah Richie
  • https://ourworldindata.org/whaling#:~:text=At%20its%20peak%20in%20the,to%20manage%20international%20whaling%20stocks.

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Find episode transcripts here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/male-contraceptive-winter-snooze-whale-fight-songs