Researchers from the UK and Japan found that the head and tail movements of sperm made patterns similar to the fields that form around magnets. And these help to propel sperm towards the female egg.
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Dr Hermes Gadelha, a lecturer in applied mathematics at the University of York, measured the beat of individual sperm cells’ tails to try to understand the flow of fluid around the sperm.
It turns out that a “simple mathematical formula” explains the rhythmical patterns created, Dr. Gadelha says. And these movements help selected sperm cells move forward towards their holy grail – the female egg.
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Related on the SLP
“The more we know about sperm the better. This might help infertility treatment in some small way but there are lots of other factors to consider too,”[said Prof. Allan Pacey, a sperm expert from the University of Sheffield].
They include the number of sperm available, getting them to the right place at the right time and the DNA present in the head of the sperm.
[The study can be found here.]The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: Sperm swimming technique ‘all down to simple maths’
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