The Natural Cycles app aims to prevent pregnancy by evaluating a woman’s daily temperature and menstruation data. The app — which uses this information to calculate which days a woman is at a high or low risk of pregnancy — alerts users to avoid intercourse or use a separate method of birth control on high risk days.
Elina Berglund, PhD, a particle physicist who helped discover the Higgs boson particle, launched the app with her husband in 2014. She told NPR developing the mathematically-driven app dovetailed with her background. “Instead of looking for the Higgs particle, you’re looking at women’s temperatures and fertility data, which is a lot of fun,” she said.
The app is not as effective as other forms of birth control, NPR notes. A clinical study of 4,000 women found it boasted a 93 percent success rate; by contrast, intrauterine devices are nearly 100 percent effective. However, Natural Cycles is more effective than the traditional rhythm or calendar method, which only boasts a 76 percent success rate.
The Natural Cycles app, which costs roughly $10 per month, currently has more than 300,000 users, most of whom live in northern Europe.
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