Helen Taylor • Mar 21, 2018 •
When I was little, I wanted to be David Attenborough, but here I am at 35 hanging out in the bush and collecting bird sperm samples. I feel like I owe everyone (including my younger self) an explanation. An interesting career choice Me in the field, loving my work. Sorry, mum! (Image credit: Robyn White) My mum doesn’t like … Read More
Alison Campbell • Feb 12, 2018 •
Polyploidy – the duplication of chromosome sets – is relatively common in plants, and can result in the development of new species. (Many modern food crops are polyploids.) It’s much less common in animals, although found in some frogs and salamanders (amphibians) and leeches (annelids). So it was with a mix of excitement, surprise, and alarm that … Read More
Guest Author • Jan 31, 2018 •
Gunda Georg, University of Minnesota; Jon Hawkinson, University of Minnesota, and Shameem Syeda, University of Minnesota This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. After decades of research, development of a male birth control may now be one step closer. My colleagues and I are working on a … Read More
Guest Author • Jul 31, 2017 •
By Chris Barratt, University of Dundee Sperm count in men from North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand declined by 50-60% between 1973 and 2011, according to a new study from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Surprisingly, the study, which analysed data on the sperm counts of 42,935 men, found no decline in sperm counts … Read More
Guest Author • Nov 07, 2016 •
By Adam Watkins, Aston University A recent study looking at the effectiveness of a male contraceptive injection was abandoned after the men taking part reported increased incidences of acne (nearly half), mood disorders (over a fifth) and raised libido (over a third). In fact, there were 320 men in the study – and a total of 1,491 adverse … Read More
Eric Crampton • Sep 16, 2016 •
Here’s the Adam Smith Institute on New Zealand’s sperm shortage: The world simply will not make sense if you do not grasp the first and most basic thing you must know about economics. Which is that incentives matter. What the incentive is, what the action or activity is, those are things which can all vary wildly. Whether something acts … Read More
Aimee Whitcroft • Jan 22, 2010 •
I’m gobsmacked. And highly amused, as well (it’s the immature part of me, apologies). Credit: Phil Myers (photographer, copyright holder), Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan. More info here and here. (I tried to find a picture of sperm in question, but nothing seemed to be (c)-free) Research published in … Read More