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A website is offering text message reminders to women to take the contraceptive pill.

Cupid's Clock already helps its subscribers to remember anniversaries, birthdays and other important dates.

The site's owners say they are not making any profit from the contraceptive alerts, which cost ?2 each month.

Rachael Taplin, who runs Cupid's Clock with her husband John from their home near Solihull, West Midlands, said the fee was "definitely cheaper than forgetting" to take the pill.

"The idea began with the assumption that most men are pretty pathetic at managing their personal lives and needed a little help in remembering anniversaries, birthdays, Valentines day et cetera," said Mrs Taplin. "However, from there, the site has grown and the pill reminder is an example of this.

"It can be quite confusing taking the pill, but our text alerts can keep you on track and simplify the whole process.

"The alerts are just ?2 per month, which is a special not for profit rate, and definitely cheaper than forgetting.

"My husband John has even suggested we run a parallel PMT reminder service for men.

"On a serious note, unwanted pregnancy is a problem and the pill alert is only available to over 16s who have been prescribed it by their GP."

The website, which has been running for about a year, also enables people to follow the progress of celebrities' love lives.

BBC News

The party lifestyles of teenagers today could be destroying their health later in life, warn doctors.

The British Medical Association describes their obesity, binge drinking, and promiscuity as a "potential public health timebomb".

It is calling for swift action to reverse the worsening trends in adolescent health.

It follows a prediction from England's Chief Medical Officer that children could die before their parents.

Official health statistics suggest a growing threat to child health on a number of fronts, says the BMA

The number of children with weight problems has doubled in the last two decades, with nearly one in five 15-year-olds now classed as obese.

Alcohol consumption among the young is also on the rise - some under-16s admitting drinking an average of ten units of alcohol a week, five pints of beer or ten normal glasses of wine. Six out of ten 16 to 24-year-olds admit not using condoms and rates of certain sexually transmitted diseases is soaring among this age group.

In addition, almost a quarter of 15-year-olds are regular smokers, and cannabis has been tried by one in three.

Vivienne Nathanson, the BMA's Head of Science and Ethics said: "Young people in Britain are increasingly likely to be overweight, indulge in binge drinking, have a sexually transmitted infection and suffer mental health problems.

"It is high time we provided education and healthcare services that target the specific needs of young people.

"We need to ensure that young people do not fall in between the gap between services for children and those designed for adults."

Dr Russell Viner, from Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, was one of the authors of the BMA report.

He told a newspaper: "The report paints a bleak picture.

"It's not until you take all these figures together that you realise how worrying the situation is.

"It seems that adolescents are the only age group whose health is actually getting worse."

Obesity

The government is already considering moves to limit snack food advertising to children as experts warn of a child obesity "epidemic".

Doctors are already seeing cases of diabetes brought on by poor diet and lack of exercise in children as young as 13. They believe that being obese at this age increases the chance of obesity in adulthood, which is linked to a host of medical problems, including heart disease and cancer.

Dr Peter Maguire, deputy chairman of the BMA's Board of Science said: "The UK is facing a crisis in adolescent health.

"Problems such as obesity, addictions, poor mental and sexual health, all respond best to early intervention, but are not being effectively addressed.

"If we do not treat these problems when people are young they will carry poor health into adulthood."

The rise of the sex disease chlamydia is particularly worrying for doctors.

This may not cause symptoms in women - and remain hidden for years.

However, it can cause severe damage to fertility, leaving thousands unable to conceive naturally.

Campaigns

The government is spending money on campaigns to improve child health, including a free school fruit initiative.

It has published a sexual health strategy, and a teenage pregnancy strategy in an effort to reduce the UK's high rates.

However, it has faced criticism for failing to halt the selling off of school playing fields.

BBC News

Thailand's university student leaders say they have voted against government proposals to put condom machines on campuses.

The Secretary General of the Students Union Network, Vitoon Chomchaipol, said Thailand's Health Ministry plans would encourage casual sex, and were therefore not the best way to fight the problem of Aids.

The proposal comes as the ministry warned on Thursday that young Thais were currently the section of society facing the highest risk of HIV in the country and that rates among this age group were rising due to unsafe sex.

The ministry has already installed thousands of condom dispensers in restaurants, bars and department stores.

"We totally don't agree with the plan. It's not necessary and not suitable as it could mislead students to believe that teachers approve of them having sex," Mr Vitoon told the French news agency AFP.

"Casual sex is a problem involving a small group of students," The Nation newspaper quoted Mr Vitoon as saying.

"We are concerned that with easy access to condoms, the majority, who are reluctant now, will jump onto the bandwagon," he said.

Some 78,000 Thai youth aged 15 to 24 were currently HIV-positive due to unsafe sex practices, the Health Ministry survey found.

One million of Thailand's 63 million people are Aids/HIV positive.

BBC News

A Texas company claims to have invented an electrical stimulation device that takes women to a pre-orgasmic state.

Stimulation Systems' says its Slightest Touch invention electrically stimulates sexual nerve pathways in a woman's pelvis, reports Wired News.

The ?120 battery-powered device is designed to be used 10 to 20 minutes before sex and bring the wearer to a state of sexual readiness where the "slightest touch" can trigger an orgasm.

About the size of a Walkman, the Slightest Touch works via a pair of electrical pads attached to the ankles.

According to the company, the current stimulates two acupuncture points related to three nerve pathways in the pelvic region.

It was invented by accident when one of the four co-inventors, who are being kept anonymous, was trying to develop an electrical foot massager.

Using his girlfriend as a test subject, the prototype didn't do so much for her feet, but it did stimulate her sexually.

Company spokeswoman Cherisse Davidson said the device produced a "very gentle tingling sensation" in the lower ankle, and "butterflies" or "sparklers" in the pelvis.

"I prefer my sex with it," she said. "It intensifies the experience. The orgasms are more intense, they last longer and I usually have more than one."

However, Stephen Barrett, a retired psychiatrist, doubts the device works: "That's nuts. That's bullshit. You're not going to stimulate anything in the pelvis by stimulating the ankle," he said.

Ananova.com

Moscovites caught kissing in public places could be fined if city authorities pass a new law currently under consideration, according to a Russian newspaper.

The kissing ban could even extend to lawfully wedded spouses, Stolichnaya Vechernyaya Gazeta reported.

Quoting unnamed sources, it said the plan was aimed at raising levels of public morality in the Russian capital.

The newspaper added that "particularly blatant cases could even lead to a spell of temporary detention in jail".

It said that if approved the new regulations would be introduced earlier next year.

Kiss appeal

The newspaper quoted a city education official, Tatyana Maskimova, as saying that travellers in the Moscow underground were in particular indulging in lax behaviour.

"Our children are getting love lessons all day long from what they see around them," Ms Maksimova said.

Human rights campaigner and a leading member of Russia's Democratic Union party, Valeriya Novodvorskaya said she would defy the ban if the new bill is introduced.

"Introducing a ban on kissing is really taking things to the Orwellian level of an anti-sexual league and capital punishment for the offence," Ms Novodvorskaya told Echo Moskvy radio station.

"However, if this is not a joke and the mayor's office is indeed drafting such a resolution, I will from now on spend my days kissing in public places - simply out of principle.

"The moment I see a nice person I know, I will immediately kiss them - even if I don't feel like it. I invite all other Moscovites to do the same," Ms Novodvorskaya added.

BBC News

Almost one in five people in the North West are too tired to make love because of the long hours they work, according to a survey.

More than a third of respondents said they did not have enough time to spend with partners or children.

Up to 58% claimed they did not properly enjoy the time they did spend with their families because they were so tired.

Community work, socialising, personal fitness and hobbies all suffer under excessive working hours.

And 62% say long hours at the office mean they skimp on housework.

The union Amicus, which carried out the survey, said it showed how damaging the UK's "long hours working culture" was.

HOW LONG HOURS DISRUPT LIVES

• Sex life 18%
• Relationship with partners 35%
• Relationship with children 35%
• Family life 45%
• Social life 38%

A number of traditional sexual practices may be significantly assisting the spread of Aids cases across Africa, experts say.

Many women in particular are risking contracting the virus, as some practices involve artificial drying of the vagina.

The reasons behind the practices are varied - some are to do with tribal beliefs, while others are simply efforts to please men during sex.

British worker Nikki Ezire - who had spent much time in Zimbabwe, Zambia and West Africa - told the BBC's Africa Live programme that she had met many African women who used douches of tree bark to dry themselves.

"It occurred to me that if you're drying out your vagina then it's more likely to split, and the risks of transmission are greater," she said.

Ugandan doctor Nelson Musoba said a number of sexual practices that may be conducive to the spread of Aids were common throughout Africa.

He said the non-penetrative practice of Katavali - established in the West of Uganda but now common throughout the country - often caused a condom to split - if one was even worn.

"... It is likely to lead to breakage of the condom, and bruising, and transmission of the HIV virus," the doctor said.

Even "official" advice can be misleading.

Nikki Ezire said she had seen an article in a Ghanaian woman's magazine advising a girl struggling to satisfy her fiancee, to give herself a douche with the antibacterial disinfectant Dettol.

Bebe, an HIV positive woman from Zimbabwe, told the programme she had seen girls using tomato leaves to dry themselves.

Wife inheritance

However, sexual practices are not the only traditions that may be causing the rapid spread of the virus in sub-Saharan Africa.

Wife inheritance, for example, is also thought to be playing a role - where the widow of a man is encouraged to marry her brother-in-law.

The tradition, widespread throughout many parts of Africa, was established to ensure a woman would not become poverty-stricken if her husband died.

But the cause of death for many men is now Aids. If the woman carries the virus, she will often pass it on to her new husband.

One contributor to Africa Live said she knew one woman who had married and remarried four brothers in the space of two years.

Meanwhile tribal beliefs have also caused Aids deaths to be dismissed as evil spirits or juju.

But Dr Musoba warned that changes throughout Africa would not be as likely in the near future.

"The same issue of wife inheritance is still occurring here, despite the high levels of awareness of ways of transmission of HIV that we have experienced in this country," he said.

"We still see people who, despite knowing the consequences, continue to practice wife inheritance."

He stressed that people's behaviour usually took a very long time to change.

"Behavioural change is linked to many factors - to environmental issues, to economic status.

"Situations of sickness and insecurity, cultural practices - all those compound and make people engage in risky behaviour."

BBC News

Teenagers' sex education is assisted by watching TV series such as the US sitcom Friends, according to a study.

Researchers said watching or discussing a show with an adult reinforced or clarified the lessons carried by TV.

A Friends episode in which Rachel becomes pregnant after her former partner Ross's condom fails was watched by 1.6 million 12-to 17-year-olds.

Teenagers who watched or discussed it with an adult were about twice as likely to recall the issues involved.

Researchers interviewed about 500 teenagers shortly after the episode aired in October 2001.

Sexual attitudes

Viewers recalled the lessons six months later, according to the study in the November edition of the US journal Paediatrics.

The research was part of a study by California-based research group Rand into the role TV plays in teenagers' development of sexual attitudes and behaviour.

Rebecca Collins, author of the report, said: "We've always known that teenagers get useful information about sex from factual reporting and advice-oriented media, but now we know they can get this information from entertainment television programmes as well.

"When parents and kids watch television together, a programme may present an opportunity to discuss issues the children might not raise on their own."

BBC News

Scientists have proved that even the most seemingly innocent chat with a woman can be enough to send male sex hormones soaring.

A team from the University of Chicago paid students to come into their lab under the pretence of testing their saliva chemistry.

While there, the students got to chat to a young female research assistant.

Saliva tests showed the brief interaction was enough to raise testosterone levels by as much as 30%.

The more a man's hormone level shot up, the more attractive he later admitted to finding the research assistant.

And perhaps more tellingly, the research assistant herself was able to identify those men who found her attractive.

The men who she judged to be doing the most to try to impress her proved to be those who registered the biggest jump in testosterone levels.

However, little or no change was detected in the saliva of students who chatted with other men.

Animal reaction

Testosterone has long been closely linked with the male libido.

The researchers say their work is the first time that hard evidence has been produced in this way.

It is known that the release of testosterone in animals can embolden them, triggering courtship or aggressive behaviour.

The Chicago team believe the same may be true in humans.

However, lead researcher Dr James Roney said it was also possible that the release of the hormone was stimulated by a stress reaction.

Dr Roney told BBC News Online: "The findings are consistent with the existence of brain mechanisms that are specialised for the regulation of courtship behaviour and thus respond to cues from potential mates with coordinated behavioural and hormonal reactions.

"One might call these reactions components of a "mating response" which, if confirmed by future research, could be as basic and significant as, say, the well-known "fight or flight" reaction."

Dr Nick Neave, of the Human Cognitive Neuroscience Unit at Northumbria University, said the study was "very interesting".

"Other researchers have found changes in male hormone levels after watching erotic movies but this seems to be the first that has attempted to assess hormone changes when males meet women on a more 'normal' level."

Dr Benjamin Campbell, an expert in anthropology at Boston University, said it was possible that testosterone made men more bold by suppressing activity in an area of the brain called the amydala, which controls the stress reaction.

Testosterone levels peak in a man by his early twenties, and then gradually diminish.

Men who are married or in long-term relationships have lower testosterone levels than those still playing the field.

The research is published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.

BBC News

The oldest known condoms in the world - 17th Century creations made of animal and fish intestine - are to leave the UK to be displayed at a Dutch sex exhibition.

The five contraceptives were excavated from a medieval toilet in Dudley Castle in 1985 - they are thought to have lain there since before 1646.

A spokesman for Dudley Council, which has care of the rare items, said they would be on show at the Drents Museum in the province of Drenthein from 11 November to 8 February.

Because the sheaths are so fragile, Dr Vincent Vilsteren, keeper of archaeology, is making a special visit this weekend to collect them.

The museum is staging an exhibition called 100,000 Years of Sex.

Adrian Durkin, exhibitions officer at Dudley Council, said: "It is very rare for such items to survive so well.

"Indeed the next oldest condoms in the world are over 100 years younger and will also be on display in the exhibition."

Councillor Charles Fraser Macnamara, lead member for culture and leisure, added: "This exhibition certainly has the opportunity to put Dudley on the map.

"The borough is most famous for its wonderful glass heritage and more recently for being the epicentre of last year's earthquake.

"It's good to know that the earth has moved for many generations in the borough and that we can share our knowledge with the rest of the world."

The condoms were probably dropped into the toilet in the great tower sometime before 1646, when the castle was surrendered to the Parliamentarians during the English Civil War.

BBC News