Technology Tracks Ovulation Cycles

Seeking ways for technology to make things besides death and taxes more certain? Well, strides are being made toward certainty in another of life’s basics, conception.

The Queen Phone by Samsung is a mobile phone that can reputedly predict its female owner’s ovulation cycle. Already available in Korea for less than $300, the slim red wireless unit can also estimate caloric intake. So handy!

If the would-be mother’s phone is busy, ovulation info may be obtained from another, um, angle. Procter & Gamble is developing panty liners that indicate when the wearer is about to ovulate. Chemicals in the liner respond to body chemistry and change color. Other companies have pursued this, but P&G seems to lead the patent race. These products are not yet on the market, and when asked when we should…expect them, according to New Scientist magazine, P&G spokeswoman Sally Woodage says, “We never comment on upstream development areas.” A good idea.