Research

An experimental spray-on anesthetic may be the cure for many men suffering from premature ejaculation -- increasing the time to orgasm more than sixfold, according to new findings to be presented this week. In a double-blind trial of more than 300 men with a lifetime history of prematurity, researchers found that the mean time to orgasm increased from about 0.6 minutes to 3.8 minutes in those using the spray.

Scientists have created the first genetically modified monkeys that can pass their new genetic attributes to their offspring, a development designed to give researchers new tools for studying human disease, but one that raises a host of thorny ethical questions. In this case, the Japanese researchers added genes that caused the animals to glow green under a fluorescent light and beget offspring with the same spooky ability.

A powerful U.S. senator has demanded more information about the financial health of UC San Francisco's medical school, raising questions about whether the entire University of California system may be mismanaging federal research funds. Sen. Charles E.

Florida has no shortage of hurricane-fighting ambitions, but an audacious venture in Washington state measures about Category 5: It's a Bill Gates-funded effort to destroy the devastating storms. Good luck with that, experts say. Three Florida universities are tackling more manageable parts of the puzzle: Florida State University has developed a computer model intended to improve the accuracy of hurricane predictions. The University of Miami plans to build a $48-million research complex to simulate how hurricane winds slash into coastal structures.

If people would just do four things -- engage in regular physical activity, eat a healthy diet, not smoke and avoid becoming obese -- they could slash their risk of diabetes, heart attack, stroke or cancer by 80%, a new report has found. But less than 10% of the 23,153 people in the multiyear study -- published in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine -- actually lived their lives this way. "The study has such a simple straightforward focus on making the point that prevention works in preventing serious disease," said Dr. J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society.

Union membership throughout California is rising despite the ongoing recession, according to a study released Monday by UCLA's Institute for Research on Labor and Employment Between July 2008 and June 2009, unions gained almost 25,000 new members in Southern California and more than 131,000 statewide, according to the institute's fifth annual report on the state of organized labor. Union workers still represent fewer than one in five employees in the state, but membership has grown steadily for two years.

A landmark reform instituted 16 years ago by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to weed out problem deputies has been remarkably successful in identifying officers who have the potential for misconduct and excessive force, according to a report released Tuesday. The study concluded that there is a strong link between the number of complaints filed against a deputy -- proven or not -- and the possibility that the deputy will eventually get into serious trouble and become a liability for the department The monitoring system, which tracks complaints, conduct and use of force, was established in 1993 after a scathing report by a special commission found a "disturbing" pattern of excessive force and mistreatment of minorities in the Sheriff's Department.

Like a lot of kids in the summer of 1972, I was riveted by a strange spectacle unfolding in Iceland: a chess match between Soviet grandmaster Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer, the mercurial young American. The games weren't televised -- Fischer permitted no cameras -- so chess experts replayed the moves on public television using oversize boards. Through long summer days, I puzzled over poisoned pawns and bishop pairs as Fischer, after nearly walking out on the match, crushed the Russian champion.

Communing with nature not only lifts spirits, it helps people behave better, according to a study published this week. Psychologists at the University of Rochester conducted four experiments with 370 people who were shown computer images of either natural settings, such as landscapes and lakes, or man-made settings, such as buildings and roads. The subjects were encouraged to look at the surroundings carefully, noting colors and textures and imagining sounds and smells. They then completed questionnaires about the importance of various values, such as wealth, fame, connectedness to community, relationships and the betterment of society.

A program to test the effect of pesticides on the human hormonal system will be compromised by an Office of Management and Budget order allowing data from past studies by pesticide companies to substitute for new studies, according to some scientists involved in developing the new program. The OMB directive requires the Environmental Protection Agency to accept "to the greatest extent possible" existing toxicity data on pesticides in lieu of conducting new tests on the 67 chemicals selected for investigation.