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Using Nanotechnology To Build Thinner, Stronger Condoms
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Discovery Magazine reports that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has granted $100,000 to Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) to develop a nanoparticle coating for condoms that will make them more comfortable and stronger while simultaneously keeping them thin to preserve – and increase – sensation in order to make them more appealing to use. According to the Gates Foundation, in the time that condoms have been in use, not much has changed: '[Condoms] have undergone very little technological improvement in the past 50 years. The primary improvement has been the use of latex as the primary material and quality-control measures, which allow for quality testing of each individual condom. Material science and our understanding of neurobiology has undergone revolutionary transformation in the last decade, yet that knowledge has not been applied to improve the product attributes of one of the most ubiquitous and potentially underutilized products on earth.' The nanotechnology that the Boston doctors intend to use for their improved condoms will be superhydrophillic nanoparticles that coat the condom and trap water to make them more resilient and easier to use. 'We believe that by altering the mechanical forces experienced by the condom, we may ultimately be able to make a thinner condom which reduces friction, thereby reducing discomfort associated with friction increases pleasure, thereby increasing condom use and decreases rates of unwanted pregnancy and infection transmission.'"
Now you know, ladies.
News for nerds.
Isn't friction what generates sensation? That's part of the problem with condoms now, no feeling.
How long before we're hiring kids to go pick up nano pore condoms off the beach so we can recycle them in to materials to keep the nanobots off our lawns?
Probably never, but I finally get to make the reference!
Hopefully superhydrophillic nanoparticles will not cause allergic reactions in some women, like latex does.
Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
Have gnu, will travel.
micro + soft
Shouldn't it be microtechnology for the micromen? Or is this some kind of confidence booster?
for my size please. eeeehhhh....WTF!!!
I come to Slashdot only to read sigs. One you are reading is mine.
Well, the pregnancy prevention part is pretty simple - outpatient surgery will fix you right up.
Preventing microbe transfer when bodily fluids are mixed and parts are in direct contact - well, that's quite a bit more challenging without a physical barrier.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Seems like a dick move to me.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
I AM wearing one. It's just the new Nanotech ones, that are so thin you can't see it!
It's also super-micro-coated so it doesn't hurt regardless of what we do!
You trust me, right?
[In passing, condoms have been used for centuries. It's latex ones that are only a few decades old]
Nano condoms?
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
my wife and i will start having sex without a condom and i'll only put it at the very end
after ten years of marriage we only have 2 kids
I am not a homosexual necrophiliac, said Tom, in dead earnest.
Thanks, try the veal.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
When I lived in Japan, one option was condom paint (for lack of a better phrase). Basically, you paint your hard-on with latex (?? or something like that) which dries out to form a skin-tight condom. There's also a baggie on the head to catch your swimmers. It wasn't as good as bareback, but it was certainly better than any condom. Oh, and the girl painting your pecker sticks her finger up your ass and sucks your balls to help keep you hard.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
OT: when you gather some experience and do some thinking and then apply then you can see almost directly whether ladies in documentaries that we all so value do this right or just fake it to satisfy the moron director of the movie.
in soviet Russia condoms wears you!
Real cowboys ride bareback!
Because the greatest threat to the domination of Windows over the Known Universe is human beings, we need to prevent them from being born- or even conceived.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
I agree, this will be fantastic. I'm sick of wearing these bandages on my hands all the time.
How about you not try to ignite a flame war on an unrelated story? This is about condoms, not circumcision. It's an issue for both cut and uncut men. Take your rant elsewhere, please.
Everything is better with chainsaws.
What could possibly go wrong?
Really?
Still not one Seven of Nine joke yet? Slashdoters, yer slipping.
You have to bring your own test system that includes both sides, so you are likely out of the running.
Condom nanotubes
There already are different sizes condoms based on your measurements (96 available sizes). They-Fit is the brand and they have an on-line store (European company).
I have tried them and they are pretty much spot on :-).
Their largest size makes Magnum look like a condom for mice. And their smallest size goes to well veeery small.
A product that 99% of slashdotters will never get to use, despite the coolness of it being nano-technology. Then again, 99% of slashdotters don't get to use supercomputers either, but Slashdot reports on them. Maybe when we get sex robots, but then again you really don't need a condom for a machine unlikely to get pregnant.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
Douglas Adams said this back in '95:
The idea that Bill Gates has appeared like a knight in shining armour to lead all his customers out of a mire of technological chaos neatly ignores the fact that it was he who by peddling second-hand, second-rate technology, led them all into it in the first place.
Indeed, it still seems to be that Bill Gates' modus operandi is to create problems to sell solutions. His foundation promotes male genital mutilation (aka circumcision) as a solution to AIDS, even though real life numbers show it does not work at all. And a side effect of circumcision is that it severely reduces sexual sensation, which makes men even less inclined to use the actual solution, condoms (not to mention it increases the likelihood of erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation, dyspareunia, and alexithymia).
So his solution now is to make a high-tech super-thin condom. Which would not be necessary if his so-called charity didn't get men mutilated in the first place!
Circumcision is child abuse.
While they are at it, could they please make condoms biodegradable. After plastic bags, condoms are probably one of the worst culprits in terms of emitting plastic into the ocean and nature (unlike plastic bags, condoms are often flushed down the toilet).
If history has shown us anything, based on experiences from Microsoft products, Mr. Gates' condoms will come in only one size -- Mr. Gates' size. And you'd better be happy with that.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
The first and only time I did that, we ended up with twins. Seriously.
I live ze unknown. I love ze unknown. I am ze unknown.
Isn't this what the "wearable computing" poll was all about?
You will not drink with us, but you would taste our steel? - Walter Matthau, The Pirates
Which is perplexing because you're infertile...
Bill Gates should use some of that clout of his to actually so some good re: condoms.
First, get on the phone and blast that mysogynistic virgin running the Catholic Church and make him promote condom use, especially in Africa. Then get US teens some proper, frank, honest and mandatory sex ed classes with all the gory details so that you combat the US having the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the industrialized world, according the the Center for Disease Control, who notes that 30% of women below age 20 get pregnant in the US. If those happen, then he can claim to be doing some good re: sex and condoms.
DaveyJJ
You put it on your dongle to practice safe hex.
I sense a superhero origin story in this. Part-human, part-nanobot.
After all, we tell our students these days that condoms are less than 50% effective. Why bother making a better one when we're telling people not to use them?
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
This article will probably only be applicable to about .01% of the users of this website...
$100,000 is only 200 girl/hours in Back Bay Boston. Are you sure that that is enough research? It would probably buy more research in Africa, but you better be sure that they work before you do any advanced research there.
Speaking from one girl to another, are you sure that all your gentleman callers actually know that the lube goes on the !inside! of the condom? And that if they are using gelatin based lube like KY that they need to add 3-4 drops of water to a toothbrush-sized dab of KY to make sure that his fully-erect penis will glide between the lube layer and the condom side?
Girlfriend, this is when you start 'training' the boy, i.e. getting him fully erect and in your vagina and keeping himself in a state where he is just balancing on the edge of ejacuation, but still being ~just able to keep it from blasting off.
The nanotechnology that the Boston doctors intend to use for their improved condoms will be superhydrophillic nanoparticles that coat the condom and trap water to make them more resilient and easier to use.
Umm...am I the only one that envisioned an instant Slim Jim after putting one of these puppies on?
Also, if these things are 'trapping water', won't they, erm, 'swell' with use? Where does the trapped water go?
"Mmmm...leathery...and yet strangely rubbery at the same time!"
"I love animals! Some are cute, others are tasty, what's not to like?" - Betsy Schroeder, Jeopardy contestant
Company with failed product tries to save itself by releasing more of the same
MS has missed the bandwagon, once again, but unlike the other big blunders (*cough* Internet *cough*), this time there are powerful and more importantly, wealthy, competitors around to take advantage of it.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
I think what would really sell are condoms for women who don't like to give give blowjobs, such that:
- It was acceptable for a (condom-wearing) man to ejaculate in her mouth, and
- It was a worthwhile experience for the man.
If that problem could be solved by a condom design, sales would go through the roof, especially for married couples.
Run on sentence, and not taken from the link inside the quote.
Pickens, you're a hack.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Multiple sizes come in condoms! ....I'll get my coat....
and rubbers weren't invented.
they tied a sock around their cock,
and babies were prevented.
If it was good enough for my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, granddad, it's good enough for me.
Teflon is not, to my knowledge, very elastic. It's essentially a rigid plastic. Condoms need to be able to stretch and experience, ahem, rather extreme dynamic loads during use. They need to be quite stretchy so that they don't tear.
The Micro Soft condom: snugger and with a built-in Viagra(tm) coating... :P
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
This is a training project for some medical residents which has been repackaged into a press release. As a training and exposure project, it's great, BUSM is going to learn a bunch. Maybe they'll publish something, but don't expect anything else.
As a vehicle to get Gates Foundation and University of Manchester a bunch of press, it's ... ugh, disappointing. This is what they want to spend their money and prestige on?
$100k isn't close to realistic for a real applied nanomaterial R&D project. Running a real materials research project with medical residents would be silly.
If they really wanted to make a better condom, they would fund a materials company.
"mmm" ... "yes, mmmmm!"
"Eeeeek!" ... "Wassamatta???"
GREY GOO!
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
I think the 'either' that the grandparent was saying the majority of us do not do is 'think a bit' and 'practice'.
William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
>I hate you Citation Needed people so much.
independent citation needed
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
HEADLINE: "Bill Gates is giving $100,000 toward making a new kind of 'nanoparticle' condom. It is touted as being more secure, more fun and more sensitive than the current type of condoms in use today. "
Wait for it......waaaiiiit fooooor iiiiiit........ BUT THAT ISN'T THE FIRST TIME HE'S PROMISED MORE SECURITY FUN AND PERFORMANCE IN ONE OF HIS INVENTIONS...HA! *drumfill*
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
they promise to address a lot of the shortcomings of current condoms
Won't come off, like ever!
But a vasectomy is pretty much permanent. Don't you think that a temporal prevention of pregnancy also warrants some merit?
Nice one. Neatly shaped, sits snug and improved sensation. ... Yet sometimes I don't want to much sensation, so I can stay in the game longer. :-) )
I often also use two. Had 2 breakages and one loss in the past. Nasty and scary that is. (queue condom usage stories below please
Conclusion: Improvements in Condoms is not the worst thing for the super-rich to invest in.
My 2 cents.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca