Bill and Melinda Gates Present the Condoms of the Future
Last week, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced the latest winners of the Grand Challenges Explorations initiative, including proposals to help women farmers in developing countries save on labor, new approaches to controlling under-studied tropical diseases, and the next generation of condom.
That's right: Bill and Melinda Gates are providing $100,000 to 11 prototype prophylactics that "significantly preserve or enhance pleasure," and that are packaged and designed for easier use. (No more tricky-to-tear wrappers! Seriously.) They selected the winners from 812 applicants.
To which I say: thanks, Bill and Melinda. I didn't know you cared.
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Ah, but they do, and here's why. The Global Health Division of the Gates Foundation uses advances in science and technology to stop the spread of disease - including sexually transmitted ones like HIV, which properly-used condoms are extremely effective at preventing. But those amazing little sheaths of latex also help in the war against poverty, another Gates Foundation focus, by protecting against unintended pregnancy.
Condoms are cheap, easy to distribute in countries all over the world, don't require a doctor's prescription, and even come scented or textured for increased pleasure. Except that, as anyone who has used one knows, having sex with a condom on is a bit like shaking hands while wearing rubber gloves. Especially in regard to how they smell. And so, men don't wear them as often as they should.
As Dr. Papa Salif Sow, the senior program officer on the Gates Foundation HIV team, told The New Republic, "a redesigned condom that overcomes inconvenience, fumbling, or perceived loss of pleasure would be a powerful weapon in the fight against poverty."
What does a box of $1.1 million prophylactics look like? Step into the Delorean and take a look at this real-life science fiction, the condoms of Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
As reported by The New Republic, condoms of the future may not be made of latex, as they have been since 1920. Scientists from the University of Oregon are working with a polyurethane polymer to create a condom about half-as-thick and twice-as-strong as latex that has "shape memory," so it will mold closely to the man's skin. They'll also toss in some "antimicrobial nanoparticles" to keep STDs at bay. Man, I love science.
Looking for something a little more organic? A San Diego company wants to make condoms using "collagen fibrils from cow tendons," which its inventor claims feels just like real skin. Plus, raw materials can be easily found in slaughterhouses across the world. Perhaps we'll stop replace "pork" as a euphemism for intercourse with "beef?"
The California Family Health Council plans on taking existing polyethylene prophylactics, which are stronger, more stable, and less restrictive than latex condoms, and packaging them in hip little tubes, so a guy can pull 'em on like a sock, no sweat.
These are just the start. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation promises up to a million more bucks if these ideas bear fruit, or, er, help stop the bearing of fruit, as the case may be. There's no word on whether the pair will actual test drive the products, but I wouldn't put it past 'em. They seem pretty hands on in their Foundation's work.
So guys, take heart. Condoms 2.0 look sweeter, safer, and easier to use than what's on the market today. Which, honestly, are already pretty amazing. Even though they might not feel as great as skin-to-contact, and maybe (or probably) never will, the relief a condom provides makes up for any loss of pleasure.
- By Brian Gresko
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