The development of every animal in the history of the world began with a simple step: the fusion of a spermatozoon (the male gamete) with an oocyte, or egg (the female gamete). Despite the ubiquity of this process, the actual mechanisms through which fertilization occurs remain poorly understood. A new tool developed by a team of French biophysicists may soon shed light on this still-mysterious process, and has already captured highly detailed images of what happens when sperm and egg first touch.
Category: Fertility Clock Headlines
Veterans Seek Help for Infertility Inflicted by Wounds of War
During a firefight in Afghanistan in 2005, Army Cpl. Tyler Wilson, 20, was hit by a bullet that pierced his spine and left him paralyzed below the waist.Since then, the Department of Veterans Affairs has provided him with free health care, as it does for all veterans who were disabled while serving. Yet there was a gap in his coverage that came as a shock.
Female Sterilization: Why Are So Many Women Getting Their Tubes Tied, And Why Aren’t Men Doing The Same?
Many women across the globe struggle with fertility: Some try to become pregnant but can’t, others are persistently unsuccessful at in vitro fertilization, and many experience the heartbreak of miscarriage. While these women strive for motherhood, others inhabit the opposite end of the fertility spectrum, hoping to avoid pregnancy at any cost — even if it means permanently closing the door to birthing children. Becoming sterile, though stigmatized throughout history, is no longer viewed as the loss of a woman’s femininity, purpose, or worth in most places. Rather, it’s a conscious choice many women make to gain absolute control over their reproductive systems.
Why Fertility Treatments Aren’t Covered for Veterans
The U.S. government will help active-duty soldiers with the cost of IVF, but those who have left the military don’t have the same benefit—even when combat injuries make it impossible to have kids otherwise.
Mouse Sperm Made in Lab
Scientists have produced rudimentary mouse sperm from stem cells in the laboratory, a step that may lead to a treatment for infertile men.
The App that Shows the Early Stages of Life Developing: Fertility Clinic’s Software Allows Parents to Watch Embryos Develop in the Lab
IVF couples can now watch their embryo developing in real time – using a smartphone app. It literally puts them in the lab, with round-the-clock access to images of their baby-to-be as it evolves. More than 500 British couples have so far trialled the Embryomobile application, developed by Institut Marquès Barcelona, in Spain.
Embryo ‘Squishing’ Could Lead to More IVF Babies
Squeezing a fertilised egg and seeing how well it bounces back is the key to improving IVF success rates, according to Stanford University
When Parents and Surrogates Disagree on Abortion
When a woman agrees to become a gestational surrogate—meaning she’ll gestate an IVF-created embryo as it grows into a fetus—she and the commissioning parents will typically sign a legally binding contract. The terms vary widely from contract to contract and state to state, but the vast majority will include a clause allowing the parents to make decisions about abortion.
Three-Parent Children Are Already Here
This month, headlines have been filled with speculation about the social and ethical implications of “three-parent” children—that is, children born containing DNA from two mothers and one father through a set of in vitro fertilization procedures known as mitochondrial manipulation technologies.
What It’s Like to Donate Sperm
Donating sperm seems easy: Walk into a clinic, ejaculate into a cup, make a quick buck. But it isn’t that simple. The entire donation process is more complicated and time-consuming than you’d expect.