fertility

High-tech 'fertility chip' measures sperm count, motility

If you'd like a better understanding of what it takes for sperm to be considered fertile, go grab your measuring spoons and look at the quarter teaspoon. Roughly that amount of ejaculate should boast anywhere between 20 million and 150 million sperm. Anything less than 20 million and fertility just might be an issue.

So Loes Segerink, a researcher at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, has developed a "fertility chip" that can accurately count one's sperm concentration as well as measure its mobility (when discussing sperm the synonym "motility" is often used). What's more, the test can be taken at home, with the ejaculate being, ahem, collected in a more private environment.

While simple home tests are already commercially available, the concentration readings are, well, simple, and indicate only whether sperm concentration is above or below that 20 million mark. But one man's sperm concentration of 19 million is certainly more fertile than another man's count of 1 million.

Segerink, who will be defending her doctoral dissertation in November, says the sperm flows past a liquid-filled channel on the chip beneath electrode "bridges." When cells pass beneath these bridges, a brief fluctuation in electrical resistance occurs. By counting these events, the chip is counting sperm.… Read more

Stem cells used to create sperm in infertile mice

Welcome to mating 2.0: the sexual act itself might not change, but when the parts don't work, we'll simply build new ones.

So say scientists in Japan who, using stem-cell techniques, are the first to engineer sperm in infertile male mice that successfully fertilized eggs and produced offspring.

The team, led by Mitinori Saitou at Kyoto University, report in the journal Cell that it used stem cells to create primordial germ cells, the precursor to sperm cells, and injected those germ cells into the testicles of infertile mice. The cells eventually produced normal-looking sperm, which went on … Read more

Scientists to fight malaria via spermless mosquitoes

Female mosquitoes just don't get to have any fun. They mate only once, lay eggs, and eventually die.

In an effort to combat malaria, researchers at Imperial College London hope to take advantage of the female mosquito's plight--and reduce the mosquito population--by engineering spermless males. They say the key is that the females don't seem able to tell the difference; they still mate with the sterile males and proceed to lay eggs that never hatch.

This is an improvement over previous attempts to engineer sterile males, the team said, because that process often exposed the males to … Read more

Gadgettes 151: The gadgets for aliens episode

We all know that invading space aliens have one primary objective, and that is to impregnate human kind. That and possibly to collect today's assortment of handy gadgets for use on their own planet. Meanwhile, there we'll be, doing their alien chores and cooking their alien dinners for them with no ability to break from their alien spell. Aren't we just a sad bunch of humanoid life forms?

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 151

Cool Window Phone would simulate the weather

Gizmo gauges gals’ fertility–20,000 times a day

Japanese rescue robot consumes injured humans

The 10 most badass sci-fi battlesuits ever

STS-111 multisegment airship is not a flying sandworm but a flying spermatozoon… Read more

Gizmo gauges gals' fertility--20,000 times a day

A group of fertility and technology experts from the University of Cambridge say they have greatly improved on the current standard for monitoring a woman's fertility--measuring her basal body temperature--with a new device that takes her temperature not once but 20,000 times a day.

The DuoFertility Monitor is part sensor (placed on a 3-centimeter adhesive under the arm) and part receiver (the sensor transmits data wirelessly to a portable device), storing up to six days of data on the device that can also be uploaded to a computer for longer-term analysis.

According to the company, Cambridge Temperature Concepts, … Read more

Ocean fertilization firm Climos gains financial backing

Climos, a start-up that plans to mitigate climate change by stimulating plankton growth, said on Wednesday that it has raised a series A venture capital round of $3.5 million.

Braemar Energy Ventures led the round, which also included participation from investor Elon Musk, now chairman of Tesla Motors.

As previously reported, the funding will be used to develop and test Climos' ocean iron fertilization technique, in which an iron compound is put into the sea to stimulate the growth of plankton.

As the plankton grow, they take the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Over time, some … Read more

Plankton grower Climos gathers funds for climate mitigation

Only a few weeks after ocean iron fertilization venture Planktos folded, rival Climos is set to announce a first round of venture funding totaling $4 million.

Climos CEO and founder Dan Whaley said Thursday that the company will announce funding early next week.

The idea behind Climos is to grow large amounts of plankton by pouring iron into the ocean.

Iron stimulates the growth of plankton, which consumes the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Once the plankton sinks several hundred meters, it is considered sequestered from the atmosphere.

The practice of ocean iron fertilization, which has been experimented with since the … Read more

Lavender watch makes babies

Actually, you have to do your part, too. But the OV-Watch--FDA approved!--monitors the salts in a woman's sweat to predict the six days when she's most fertile. Now, isn't that romantic? (It would be more so, we think, if this watch came in any color that didn't scream, "Look! I'm trying to make a baby! And I love princesses!") Be prepared to shell out $100-plus for the watch and sensors to go with it.

(Via Babygadget, Photo: OV-Watch)