Ovaries

Few things in life look as pure and simple as a glass of milk. The ingredient list on the carton is refreshingly short too. All it says is "milk," perhaps along with some added vitamin A and vitamin D. No preservatives, no artificial colors, no high-fructose anything. Just milk. But like many things that appear simple from the outside, there's a lot going on beneath milk's surface. That glass is swirling with natural cow hormones, which isn't surprising considering the source. Milk contains sugars found nowhere else in nature, and it offers a particular blend of nutrients — including protein, calcium, magnesium and potassium — that you can't get anywhere else.

With 380 million eggs under recall, consumers may be anxious about eating any egg or food product containing eggs. Here's the upshot: Thoroughly cooked eggs are safe, but cross-contamination could be a problem. Here's more about the recall and food safety. Which eggs are included in the voluntary recall? The recall issued Aug. 13 covers eggs from Wright County Egg in Iowa packaged under the brand names Lucerne (Safeway's store brand), Albertsons, Mountain Dairy, Ralphs, Boomsma's, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farm and Kemps.

In the early days of the space program, astronauts were ex-Marines, Air Force officers and hot-shot pilots. Sally Ride got there a little differently: She answered a want ad. In the late 1970s, NASA decided that, in addition to pilots, it needed some astronauts with more training in the sciences. More than 8,300 applied for a position, and she was one of only 35 chosen. Why, she later said, was a "complete mystery. " Ride went on to become the first American woman sent into space, the youngest American sent into space and the first woman to make two trips.

Testosterone patches can help restore the sex drive of women whose ovaries have been removed, researchers report in today's New England Journal of Medicine. Testosterone is best known as a male hormone, but it is also produced in small amounts in a woman's adrenal glands and ovaries, which also make the "female" hormone estrogen. When women have both their ovaries removed, doctors usually offer estrogen treatment to prevent hot flashes, osteoporosis and heart disease.

Ling-Ling, the National Zoo's female giant panda, is receiving fertility drugs because she passed the mating season without going into heat, zoo officials said Friday. A physical examination showed Wednesday that Ling-Ling's ovaries were normal but inactive, said Dr. Devra Kleiman, the zoo's assistant director for research.

The long-held biological dogma that females are born with all the eggs they will ever have is wrong, according to a study published today in the journal Nature. Instead -- at least in mice -- eggs are renewed throughout life, probably from a store of stem cells in the ovaries.

It looks like motherhood isn't ln the cards for Muffin, a 6-foot-long Komodo dragon at the National Zoo. Muffin had cataract surgery in February to repair blindness in her right eye. The blindness, combined with her relatively small size, had made it difficult for her to mate. After her surgery--the procedure was a first for a Komodo--zoo officials had hoped fertility treatments would make it possible to breed her.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday signed a bill designed to protect women who donate their eggs for use in stem cell research. The measure, which was sponsored by state Sens. Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento) and George Runner (R-Lancaster), requires donors to provide oral and written consent before they start taking drugs to encourage their ovaries to produce eggs. The bill also forbids compensation to donors beyond reimbursement for expenses.

Maternal mortality is rare. But the rates are increasing in the United States and elsewhere for a number of reasons. In an editorial published Thursday, British researchers point out that in-vitro-fertilization-related pregnancies are an additional risk factor for maternal death. The major causes of death to new mothers are rare catastrophes, such as hemorrhage and blood clots. The incidence of these problems is increasing, possibly because more pregnant women today have health problems, such as diabetes, obesity or some other chronic condition.