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Male DNA found in female brains may provide health benefits

Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle have found that female brains often contain male DNA. The study found that male DNA is transferred to females during pregnancy and can travel to the brain. This process, called microchimerism, happens when mothers and their fetuses exchange cells and other genetic material. The study examines women with and without Alzheimer's disease to try to determine whether the male DNA provides health benefits to the females.

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Japan’s Edelstein Cafe

The Western world is filled with themed restaurants, bars, cafes and the like, though most of them decidedly cater to the male crowd and usually their sales point involves an all-female staff dressed in minimal or provocative clothing.  Japan is no different, with its fair share of schoolgirl themes, hostess clubs and others.  But one fetish that is present in Japan that I have yet to see in the West is that of Yaoi.  The Edelstein Café, located in Harajuku, is one such club.

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Journey to Mars

Human space exploration has spawned fantasies and careers. Visionary silent film maker, George Melies created a stop motion spaceship to launch his hero to the moon. Cartoon character, George Jetson, used his jetpack to escape Earth’s gravity and space exploration fantasies have fueled decades of Star Trek television series, movies and fan conventions. Still for all our technological prowess, true manned space exploration has advanced in fits and starts – from military technology to the U.S.

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Novels with unsatisfactory endings

Audrey Schulman's novel The Cage starts out promisingly. Byerl Findham, a young female photographer from Boston, MA, is hired for a photo shoot. Not just any photo shoot, too. She is to go on an expedition sponsored by a major nature magazine to photograph bears up near the Arctic Circle. Standing at 5'1", she can easily fit in a cage to protect her from them while getting pictures.  

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Nature’s crazy mating rituals

As living, breathing creatures, it is within our genetic coding to desire sex for the purpose of mating.  Although this has evolved over the years and now we, as thinking creatures, can choose to experience sex for pleasure alone, other animals of the world don’t have it so lucky.  Some critters, in fact, have a pretty rough time of mating.  Mating rituals of beasts and insects are some pretty bizarre things, resulting in anything from genital mutilation to outright death.  But hey, it takes all kinds, right?  Here are just a few of the more interesting mating details that I managed to find

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Shanghai, China’s Marriage Market

Arranged marriages are something that have played a prominent role in many cultures throughout time.  Back in the day, finding someone to share your life with was more of a practical problem.  In fact, the concept of marriage for love’s sake is fairly recent, despite what many historical novels and movies try to portray.  It was just simpler and more effective to have the parents arrange something with someone eligible than to try the old trial-and-error method.  If statistics are to be believed, arranged marriages even have a higher rate of success than marriage for love.

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The air is always filled with smoke

For those who enjoy smoking, Indonesia is even more of a paradise with cheap cigarettes and no restrictions on the activity. For those who aren't very fond of the habit, the incessant smoking of locals and tourists alike puts a bit of a damper on a trip to Indonesia. Smoky buildings, flickering red dots in the night and stale smells taint an otherwise beautiful destination.

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