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Sperm Travels Faster Toward Attractive Females

Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

Similar findings were recently determined for African cichlid fish, whose males produce speedier sperm when females mate with many males in quick succession.

John Fitzpatrick of the University of Western Australia led the fish study while he was a graduate student at McMaster University.

"The first step in producing more competitive sperm was by influencing how much energy the sperm can produce," said Fitzpatrick. "Just like a mechanic could make a car drive faster by installing a better engine, evolution appears to act first on the engine that drives sperm movement."

While much of this process, including detection of attractive females, can occur on a subliminal basis, human males hoping to improve their fertility would be wise to not smoke marijuana, which University of Buffalo research shows reduces amounts of seminal fluid and lowers total sperm counts.

At the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, which recently took place in Amsterdam, Australian obstetrician and gynecologist David Greening announced his finding that daily sex, or daily ejaculation, for seven days improves men's sperm quality by reducing the amount of DNA damage, since lengthy exposure to oxygen in the testicular ducts may harm cells.

Both Greening and the British scientists hope future research will better identify how males adjust the sperm and seminal fluid in their ejaculates, and how this affects fertility rates.

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