Daily Sex Helps Improve Fertility 174
mmmscience writes "While fertility studies lately seem to have been exclusively focused on in vitro fertilization [IVF], new data coming out of Australia may help with unaided successful conceptions. The study has found that men who have ejaculate daily produce sperm with less damaged DNA. While such actions decrease sperm concentration, it does increase motility, meaning healthier sperm have a better chance of making it all the way to the egg. Good news, as another report has found severe chromosome abnormalities in over 90% of IVF eggs, meaning artificial insemination is just now discovering a whole new field of problems."
90% ??? I call Bull. (Score:5, Interesting)
IVF has been around a few years. In fact, it's been around since 1978, if you want to take it back to the first test tube baby.
I'm sure if there were "severe" chromosomal abnormalities we would have noticed by now.
Now, I'm not saying that there isn't any increased risk of chromosomal abnormalities associated with the procedure. But 90% chance of severe chromosomal abnormalities doesn't sound like it makes sense to me.
Are there are molecular geneticists in the house?
Re:On autism! (Score:2, Interesting)
There is a very interesting sci-fi book called Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon. The main character is autistic and its told from his point of view. He works with a group of other autistic programmers on pattern recognition software.
Re:Nothing to do with sex... (Score:2, Interesting)
More work happened in the 90's. http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/8/8/1251 [oxfordjournals.org]
Meanwhile, this article pretty well describes the reason that most slashdotters have (or will soon have) pattern baldness: http://www.steadyhealth.com/articles/Consequences_of_over_masturbation_a589_f0.html [steadyhealth.com]
Re:Nothing to do with sex... (Score:5, Interesting)
Although if 'twice a day' helps, all of slashdot should have near perfect DNA.
Now to just find someone to spread it to..
That's one way of looking at it.
Here's another, less obvious one, which I read in a Timothy Leary essay about fifteen years ago:
The anatomy contains organs that serve to keep the individual alive, such as heart, lungs, liver, etc.
The anatomy also contains organs that serve no purpose in keeping the individual alive, but are focused on the preservation of the species, such as ovaries, whose sole function is to produce the female egg, and the prostate, whose sole function is to secrete a lubricant which aids in ejaculation, a strange little organ.
Statistically, it seems these organs are the ones that do us in first, by "virtue" of being the most vulnerable to cancer, the highest rates among females being of the ovarian and breast variety, while the highest among males of the prostate variety.
Could it be that as we gradually cease to use our procreative organs, as we are no longer useful to the natural order of things, nature itself has a mechanism to push us aside?
And so, in inimitable style, Mr Leary, who was dying of prostate cancer then, concluded his musings with the following empirical conclusion and advice for us all: "Use it or lose it!"
As an amusing afterthought, when I mentioned this article to friends, some of them said "So that means I should fuck every day?", while others said "So that means it's okay if I jack off every day?" Caught them with their guard down, spilled the beans all by themselves.
Re:On autism! (Score:1, Interesting)
It's worth trying but the results seem really random. Random enough to make me think that there is a significant percentage of all humans that could benefit from a gluten and/or casein free diet, autistic or not.
I'm in the spectrum but noticed no benefit to a gluten and casein free diet. In fact it was pretty bad because I have a hard enough time maintaining a healthy weight on a regular diet and the gluten-free diet made it completely impossible. Plus I just felt like crap. I did not notice any effect whatsoever on my autistic traits. I did it for about 6 months before going back to a regular diet.