Condom

Sexual offenders are increasingly using condoms when committing their assaults, both to reduce the risk of sexually-transmitted diseases, and to avoid leaving their DNA at the crime scene. While an offender might still leave their fingerprints behind, that often only proves that they were at a given location, and not that they were involved in any wrongdoing. Researchers from the Biomedical Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University, however, have recently developed technology that detects condom lubricant in fingerprints. If a suspect could be tied to a crime scene by their fingerprints, and be shown to have handled a condom at that location – well, they’d have a lot more explaining to do. Read More

Since the ancient Romans first strapped treated goat's bladders to their peckers, the venerable condom has been protecting people from pregnancy, itchy giblets and worse for hundreds of years. And while modern condoms are fairly reliable and allow much more sensitivity than the old multi-use sheep's intestine jobbies ever did, they're still far from foolproof. So we're always impressed when somebody steps up and tries to improve on a time-honoured design - in this case, Sensis has announced a new technology that gets condoms on faster, safer and cleaner - making them more effective, and crucially cutting down on the mood-killing awkwardness we're all familiar with. Read More

The statistics paint a grim picture - an estimated 2.0 million people, including 270,000 children, died of AIDS in 2007 and at that time 33 million people around the globe were living with HIV, two thirds of them in sub-Saharan Africa. New advancements in microbicides may help to improve this horrific scenario with U.S. researchers undertaking trials for a specially designed ‘molecular condom’ to prevent the spread of HIV in women. Read More

November 26, 2008 Madrid-based Curiosite has come up with a product that will surely be one of the novelty hits of 2009. The Condometric is a condom with a measuring ruler printed on the side that will accurately determine the size of the wearer’s penis. Currently in manufacturing, the condom will be available in four flavours (lime, cherry, banana and prophylactic rubber), both metric and imperial measurements (centimetres and inches), and in packs of 3, 6 and 12 (the party pack?). Read More

February 18, 2007 In recognition of National Condom Week, a Washington retailer of sex products will sail a monster condom balloon the height of a two-story building, tethered on a 120-foot line over its Tukwila store. The condom will fly through the weekend to remind citizens of the importance of condoms and safe sex. The sturdy 20-foot pink condom has a diameter of 6-feet and is filled with 450 cubic feet of helium, a volume that requires the contents of four large welder’s tanks to fill. In a classic case of getting the events out of sequence, National Condom Week is celebrated the week AFTER Valentine’s Day each year. It was started in 1978 by students at the University of California-Berkeley and over three decades has become an important global event in the promotion of condom use as an effective method of decreasing the risk of AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases, not to mention reducing the risk of pregnancy. Read More

December 13, 2006 Once likened to “taking a shower with a raincoat on”, the condom may be the safest method of protection during sex, but it significantly detracts from the experience. Last week we featured the spray-on condom designed to offer a better fit but we’re betting that new work being done by University of Utah scientists will get a lot of attention due to its likelihood of overcoming the many shortcomings of the condom. It is in fact a "molecular condom" for use by women. The liquid is vaginally inserted daily and prevents AIDS by turning into a gel-like coating and when exposed to semen, returning to liquid form and releasing an antiviral drug. The ultimate hope for this technology is to protect women and their unborn or nursing children from the AIDS virus, but the molecular condom is five years away from tests in humans and roughly 10 years until it might be in widespread use. Read More

December 4, 2006 Researchers at the German Institute for Condom Consultancy plan to launch a spray-on condom – the Institute is currently conducting tests on a spray can into which the man inserts his penis which is then sprayed with latex from nozzles on all sides. The plan is to make the product ready for use in about five seconds and offer a more effective contraceptive that fits better than standard one-size fits all condoms and hence does not slip. Pre-market trials are underway to demonstrate the new latex condom is evenly spread when sprayed and to optimise the vulcanization process. The company is seeking Condom Testers with a penis length from 9 to 12 cm and 15 to 20 cm. Men between 13 to 14 cm are apparently welcome too, so we presume there must be some other qualification ‘cos that includes just about everyone. We could think of worse jobs, and if any Gizmag readers get the gig, please don’t forget to send us your business card. Video (in German) here. Read More