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@projectgeldom
Geldom researchers Kate Senior and Laura Grozdanovski discuss sex, games and next-gen condoms.
A next generation condom promising to revolutionise safe sex has won the People’s Choice award at the 2016 Building Better Futures for Health Challenge.
Researchers are using brain scanning technology to test the "pleasure" attributes of the next generation of condoms.
Condom packs raise sexual health awareness
This year, 27 billion condoms will be sold around the world, but less and less people are using them. Because, let’s face it, despite being great at protecting us against STIs and unwanted pregnancies, condoms aren’t the sexiest thing to put on in...
Aussie Scientists Designed Condom That Feels Like You're Wearing Nothing At All
It's no secret that a lot of people don't enjoy using condoms. Sure, we appreciate their disease- and pregnancy-preventing benefits, but let's be upfront about the fact that no one really likes to wear them.
(via Meet the Guy Trying to Revolutionize Condoms)
VICE took a look at our next-generation condom research.
To learn more about our project - check out www.projectgeldom.com.au
Project GELdom featured on ABC’s Catalyst, 7 April 2015
We were thrilled to have our next generation condom featured by ABC Catalyst.
To learn more about our project - check out www.projectgeldom.com.au
Regardless of the ever present risk of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, condoms are still a hard sell. But what if one could be made from a material that mimics human skin and is imperceptible to wear? Dr Jonica Newby puts them to the test.
View original Catalyst story.
TRANSCRIPT
NARRATION to Indian condom clip
This is how they're trying to promote condom use in India. Voice over from African condom commercial I have discovered a way to chop the AIDS quick-quick. NARRATION And this is how they do it in Africa. Around the world, everyone knows condoms are a hard sell. Young man in Australian condom ad Yeah, I'm just looking for a condom. Pharmacy assistant in Australian condom ad Why don't we just try one on? How does that one feel? Young man in Australian condom ad Yeah, it's good. Real comfortable. NARRATION And here in Australia, with sexually transmitted infections soaring amongst adolescents, it's clear condoms still aren't cutting it with those who matter most. Dr Jonica Newby Let's face it, the trouble with condoms is you're aware of them. But what if I were to tell you there was a condom that was invisible, imperceptible and felt just like real skin? Well, a group of scientists in Wollongong think they're on the verge of a breakthrough. A 21st-century condom that would be a pleasure, not a duty, to wear. NARRATION The search for the perfect condom goes back at least as far as the ancient Egyptians, who used linen sheaths to keep their members clean. In the 17th century, the linen sheath was replaced by this radical innovation - the sheep gut condom. Dr Jonica Newby So, Damian, what were these like? Damian McDonald I imagine that if they're an improvement on the linen one, I would hate to have seen a linen one. NARRATION The invention of vulcanised rubber was the next technological breakthrough. Damian McDonald We have an example here from the 1930s. Dr Jonica Newby Oh, goodness. That is thick. That looks worse than the sheep gut condom, I have to say. Damian McDonald It does indeed. Like the sheep's gut condom, it's reusable. NARRATION And this was gradually refined to the rubber latex condoms we know today. And while pregnancy prevention has always been important, the rise and fall of condom popularity has very much paralleled fear of disease. Dr Jonica Newby So this is the sort of condom that would have been used by soldiers in the Second World War. Damian McDonald And there was an awful lot of resource having to go into treat troops for gonorrhoea and syphilis. NARRATION Back then, syphilis killed more people every year than AIDS in its heyday. But then came penicillin, the pill, and condom use plummeted. NARRATION Until the '80s, and AIDS scared the pants and condoms back onto people. NARRATION Not only did condoms halt the AIDS trajectory, they were a major dampener of other STIs as well. But by the noughties, HIV was no longer fatal, fear dropped and STIs rebooted their inexorable rise. Dr Jonica Newby The one that worries a lot of health professionals these days is chlamydia. Its prevalence doubled in the last ten years. By age 25, 25% of women will have caught it. And the peak age for contracting chlamydia? 14 to 15 years of age. NARRATION And while there is one new condom material in the market, polyisoprene, which is noticeably stretchier and I'm told better feeling than latex... (Condom pops) Dr Jonica Newby Oh! John Gerofi That was the latex one. NARRATION ..even polyisoprene isn't the same as nothing at all. And then, in 2013, the University of Wollongong stumbled upon the problem by chance. Dr Robert A Gorkin III It was a random news article where it really came about, where it was just, yeah, Bill Gates wants safer sex. NARRATION The lab was working on a material called hydrogels, in a bid to develop better, more tissue-like, human prosthetics. But when Robert saw the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was offering grants to any research group who could develop a better-feeling condom, he wondered if some of their skin-like products would fit the bill. Dr Robert A Gorkin III So, it was a couple of days before the grant application was due. I ran into a sex shop and was looking at the range of dildos that were there, and there was a wide range, went back to the lab and we didn't know if this would work or not, but we just took a vat of this material and started dip-coating the dildo in this. It looked like a condom, like there was even some ribbing on it. So it really kind of showed us that, look, we may have a chance here. NARRATION So, what is this magical material? Dr Robert A Gorkin III So, now we're going to make a hydrogel. NARRATION Like the name implies, hydrogels are part water and part polymer and they form a sort of jelly. Dr Jonica Newby Oh, right. They form perfect little balls. So, I can pick one up? Dr Robert A Gorkin III Yeah. NARRATION By varying the basic ingredients, you can dramatically alter the properties of the material. And being part water, their texture is much more like human tissue. Some are soft, like you find in cosmetics... ..some are tough, like you find in contact lenses. Dr Robert A Gorkin III Tough hydrogels have only been around for the last ten years or so. Dr Jonica Newby Right. Dr Robert A Gorkin III A very new class of materials. But obviously having very exciting potential. NARRATION But was one tough yet flexible enough to replace latex? Surprisingly quickly, they identified three possible hydrogels. They then tested them to see if they would block viruses. Tick. It seems so. They tested whether they could be dip-coated and, therefore, mass-produced. They subjected them to physical testing, tensile testing, and then, just a month, for the first time, the all-important blow-up test. Dr Robert A Gorkin III And again, we're finding our materials actually come in the range of latex and polyisoprene. NARRATION So now, the all-important question - how does it feel? Dr Jonica Newby You know, I can actually feel the ridges of my fingerprint... underneath it. Dr Robert A Gorkin III There you go. So, that's probably actually going on something called tactile sensitivity. So this material is, if you look at the mechanical properties, more tactile sensitive than other rubbers. NARRATION If I compare it with the ultra-thin polyisoprene condom.. Dr Jonica Newby Yeah. This is pretty good too, this one. Yeah, but this is slightly better. Dr Robert A Gorkin III So if you have something that is not impeding that sensation, potentially this could be enhanced pleasure during sex. NARRATION And that's the potential hydrogels offer. They may be better at transmitting the feeling of what's underneath. Dr Robert A Gorkin III Imagine of there was a condom out there that actually improved what sex was like, I mean, that would be amazing. I don't know if we'll ever get that far, but at least we're on the line of where we can make the existing condoms obsolete and make new condoms feel a lot better. NARRATION It is really promising. But as we all know, the leap between a promising material and a commercial product isn't always made. So while we're waiting for the 21st-century condom, don't forget to use the tried and tested ones we have.
Reporter: Dr Jonica Newby
Producer: Dr Jonica Newby
Researcher: Dominique Pile
Camera: Daniel Shaw, Jeff Malouf ACS
David Collins
Sound: Gavin Marsh, Martin Harrington, Tim Parratt
Editor: Meredith Hopes
Our team of researchers from the University of Wollongong (UOW) has received Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funding to help develop a Next Generation Condom that significantly preserves or enhances pleasure, in order to improve uptake and regular use.