Revisiting indigenous science and traditional remedies. Katherine Ellen Foley writes:
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By Qwert1234 - Qwert1234's file, Public Domain, Link
...women had found ways to temporarily make themselves infertile. Some of these were fairly horrific, like shoving wads of crocodile dung or cat testicles into the vaginal canal, but others were more tolerable, like eating certain plants. One of these plants is the thunder god vine, or Tripterygium wilfordii.
Now scientists have figured out how the thunder god vine works to prevent pregnancy. In a paper published (paywall) on May 15 by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, researchers figured out how a compound in the plant actually prevents sperm from being able to fertilize the egg. Their work could lead to an alternative to the hormonal birth control pill.
