Scientists reveal one thing they can't explain after couple had sex in MRI machine to show what really happens
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: BMJ
There's one thing scientists can't explain after a man and woman decided to have sex in an MRI machine to show what happens inside the human body.
'Getting it on' is typically most comfortable in the bedroom, but Ida Sabelis and her boyfriend, Jupp, decided to mix things up in 1991 by having sex inside an MRI machine in the name of science.
While it is rather bizarre, the pair actually came to some insightful findings.
As per the experiment, which featured in a British Medical Journal 1999 entry, they concluded that ‘taking magnetic resonance images of the male and female genitals during coitus is feasible and contributes to understanding of anatomy’.
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Discussing what happens inside the human body, the study stated: “The images obtained showed that during intercourse in the 'missionary position' the penis has the shape of a boomerang and 1/3 of its length consists of the root of the penis.
“During female sexual arousal without intercourse the uterus was raised and the anterior vaginal wall lengthened. The size of the uterus did not increase during sexual arousal.”
While those findings were certainly insightful, there was one thing scientists couldn't explain.
It wasn't just Ida and Jupp who take part in the experiment, with eight couples and three single women having sex inside a hospital's MRI machine.
And from that, experts found that during all 13 instances of sex in an MRI machine, the woman's bladder would rapidly fill up.
The reason for this has stumped scientists, with expert Menko Victor ‘Pek’ van Andel suggesting it could be 'evolution’s way to force women to urinate after sex' and potentially 'avoid urinary tract infections'.
Unfortunately, experts can't be sure on that hypothesis.
"In every final scan we could see a big, full bladder, even though most of the women went to the toilet before they went inside the MRI," he said.
As you'd probably expect, Ida described the intimate moment in the MRI machine as not romantic, though she said the fact they were the only couple who managed to have sex in there without Viagra was 'a testimony to mine and Jupp’s happiness'.
Ida has also previously spoken about why she did it, noting that she was a big campaigner of women’s rights and was keen to broaden the understanding of the female body in science and medicine.
And while she concedes it wasn't romantic, Ida did describe the whole experience as an ‘act of love and a performance’.