Out From Under

A breakthrough in our understanding of sex has occurred! For the first time ever, 4D ultrasound of a couple actually having sex. You can see what was going on inside! The researchers are all very excited: so much to learn!

I was curious. And I’d never heard of 4D ultrasound. Any ultrasound I’d seen (and given my previously mentioned meandering career path, I’ve seen lots more than average), have been solidly 2D. But times have changed since my days of ultrasound familiarity: now we have THREE — and even FOUR dimensions!

For those of you not in the know, ultrasound is a technique that has been used for quite a while now to peer into the inner workings of stuff. It has all sorts of applications, but the one most of us are most familiar with is obstetric: getting a peek at the unborn baby.

(www.mothercareultrasound.com)

This is a 2D ultrasound. The technology has improved some since I was pregnant (and refusing ultrasounds, little rebel that I am), because nowadays there are also 3D ultrasounds:

Now, it’s probably just me, but this creeps me out a bit. “Look, honey! We’ve got a ceramic baby in there!” Or maybe it’s clay or plasticene. It looks like a human variant of the bronzed baby bootie. Eew.

This is also, I further note, not 3D. It gives the impression of depth and perspective, but that, my friends, is a flat image. Can you reach around behind it, cup your hand behind that baby’s head? You can not. Length + height = two dimensions, not three, no matter how much clever shading you put in.

The fourth dimension is time, of course. So, if we add the element of time to those images, we get … a moving, visual image on a flat screen that gives the impression of three dimensions. Like, oh, I dunno, a movie?

Anyway, overblown semantics aside, the researchers were now going to use this technology to see what actually went on inside the woman’s body during male-female sex! Because this would teach us so much!

And it did! Because, well, just look!

Isn’t that amazing?? That just makes it all so clear! To see the complete 4D-sex video, follow the link. If you think you can stand the excitement.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 17th, 2008 at 5:08 am and is filed under Ilona's Take. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.