Back in the 1970’s actress Dena Dietrich became the face of Gaea personified when she warned us all that it wasn’t “nice to fool Mother Nature.” At the time she was doing so in an advertisement for margarine, but that phrase and the ominous warning lurking behind it has been a prevalent theme in our society as we have time and time again discovered scientific ways to disrupt the “natural order” of life. While it is undeniable that technology has improved the standard of living for mankind on our lovely planet, history has shown, again and again, how nature points out the folly of man. In the medical world, for example, our efforts to combat disease have in some cases resulted in viral strains that are immune to treatment and far more deadly than the original condition we were seeking to eliminate.
Drug resistant diseases may not be the only way in which Mother Nature is thumbing her nose at us for attempting to circumvent her rules, though. A new paper published by the University of Sheffield claims that the use of oral contraceptives could cause women to select “provider types” as mates, and that doing so may have a detrimental impact on the health of their children.