Most of us have noticed the inevitable with our bodies — one foot, one hand, or one eye is bigger than the other. These differences may be due to a variety of factors, like handedness or injuries, but it’s important to remember we’re not symmetrical beings. In TED-Ed’s latest video, “Why are human bodies asymmetrical?” host Leo Q. Wan explains that although the human body looks symmetrical on the outside, most of our vital organs are arranged asymmetrically.
Author: ASRM News and Research
To Burn Sugar or Not to Burn Sugar: How Eggs Store Fuel for Embryo Development
Reproduction is highly dependent on diet and the ability to use nutrients to grow and generate energy. This is clearly seen in women, who must provide all the nutritional building blocks required to support a growing embryo. As a result, metabolic diseases like diabetes and obesity are closely linked with several female reproductive disorders such as: Infertility, polycystic ovary syndrome, and ovarian cancer. However, the precise links between reproductive processes and metabolism remains poorly understood.
Here’s How Men Deal With Erectile Dysfunction
The Superdrug Online Doctor looked at an erectile dysfunction forum to gain insight into who is actually suffering from ED and how it affects them by analyzing the posts and comments. They looked at posts and comments about ED from 3,962 users. So there’s a really well-rounded look about how men talk about erectile dysfunction to other men that are struggling.
How the World’s Governments Have Regulated Human Genome Editing
Three members of McGill University’s Centre of Genomics and Policy—Rosario Isasi, Erika Kleiderman, and Centre Director Bartha Maria Knoppers—have published a global survey of restrictions on modifying the human genome. The article, which appears in Science and is free to access, comes in the midst of a simmering debate about CRISPR gene editing, a powerful technique for rewriting living genomes, which has already been used at least once in (nonviable) human embryos and inspired calls for a voluntary moratorium on editing human egg, sperm, and embryonic cells.
Gene Causes Rare Form of Infertility in Women
Chinese researchers have identified genetic mutations that cause infertility in a small number of women. Mutations in the TUBB8 gene appear to cause defects that prevent the women’s eggs from maturing properly. Scientists are not certain how many women are affected by infertility caused by persistent immature eggs, but it is thought to be rare – it has been reported to be as low as 0.1 percent of women who seek fertility treatment in China.
India Scales Back ‘Rent-a-Womb’ Services
Long before she married, at 14, Sushila Sunar had stopped going to school. She never learned to read. After her two children were born, she broke rocks at a construction site for a few dollars a day, the only work she could find. Then a woman approached Sunar with a job that paid nearly $6,000, a sum so large she and her husband felt she could not refuse. She became a surrogate mother, delivering a light-skinned baby for a foreign couple she never met.
What Cancer & Infertility Have Taught Me About Womanhood
At 21, I was now faced with the fact that I would probably never experience a pregnancy. One week prior to this, I had been a busy, working, young college graduate. Today, I was a woman whose dreams were getting further out of reach by the minute. My oncologist had sent me to a fertility doctor to see if we could freeze my eggs for future use. The doctor completed an unpleasant vaginal ultrasound, determined that my eggs were safe to harvest, and told me I had to decide what I was going to do with my eggs within the few days that remained before I started chemo.
Israeli Hospital Testing Testicle-zapping Cure for Infertility in Men
A hand-held electrocuting contraption that’s giving men hope is now being tested on human patients at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center after a successful study on animals, the Daily Mail reported on Monday.
Anti-Abortion Groups Join Battles Over Frozen Embryos
Anti-abortion groups are seeking a foothold on a new battlefield: custody disputes over frozen embryos.
Natural’ Fertilisation Device for IVF
A private UK fertility clinic is offering couples a new form of IVF treatment that lets conception occur in the womb rather than in the lab.