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Study Hints That Wi-Fi Near Testes Could Decrease Male Fertility
Pierre Bezukhov submits news of a report that "a laptop connected wirelessly to the internet on the lap near the testes may result in decreased male fertility," writing
"'[The scientists who conducted the research] placed healthy sperms under a laptop running a Wi-Fi connection. After four hours, the Wi-Fi exposed sperms showed 'a significant decrease in progressive sperm motility and an increase in sperm DNA fragmentation' compared to healthy sperms stored for the same time in the same temperature away from the computer. That is, the sperms exposed to Wi-Fi were less capable of moving towards an egg to fertilize it and less capable of passing on the male's DNA if it does fertilize an egg.' The scientists blamed the damage on non-thermal electromagnetic radiation generated by the Wi-Fi."
However, the experiment was based on sperm outside the body; the researchers (here's the abstract from their study) note that "Further in vitro and in vivo studies are needed to prove this contention."
and still people will use this as FUD for the next 3 decades.
They don't say what the compute was displaying. Porn has been known to effect the movement of sperms.
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
...a tinfoil codpiece!
Trolling aside, this experiment doesn't sound like it had a control group, ie a laptop with no wi-fi being held over your balls. Heat in that area is known to decrease fertility. The experiment as described in the summary has nothing to do with wi-fi.
(no, I didn't RTFA).
which is totally what she said
Free contraception!
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Nor, it seems, did you RTFS.
Quote, with relevant portion highlighted:
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
Yet every modern laptop has its wifi antennas carefully routed alongside the screen so that their polarization will match the WAP's polarization. Laptops get hot. Sperm want to live at 97F (definitely not at 98.6, which is average body temperature). What have they previously published? I smell an agenda.
"You might as well get your son a ticket to hell as give him a five string banjo." -unknown minister
Non-AC'd cars, cell phones, now wi-fi...but I'm not worried. You only need to conceive a child a few times in your whole life anyways, worst-case scenario, you forgo the motorcycle and the big TV and lay down the cash for an artificial insemination procedure.
(Can feel mom's hopes for grandchildren fading...)
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
"Non-thermal electromagnetic radiation" means that electromagnetic radiation caused the effect through a nonthermal mechanism. It's a common idea in EM fear circles (because the output from EM devices is too low to cause damage by a thermal mechanism). It doesn't say anything about heat, one way or another. You can have thermal damage from EM radiation without any application of heat. That's what your microwave oven does.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Most things placed near testes tend to decrease male fertility.
Briefs, jeans, angry women...
I am John Hurt.
The abstract specifically states that the control group was a set of identical samples, under the same incubation regime, without the laptop. So no, they didn't control for the idea that the laptop alone could've caused the effect
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
To quote:
compared to healthy sperms stored for the same time in the same temperature away from the computer
That looks like it says a lot about heat to me, of course, I understand that you are thinking about the amount of heat put off by a laptop but it seems like they controlled for this by putting the wifi close but not putting the laptop directly on top of the sperm.
Here's the kicker - they ran the laptop with the wifi switched off, but only measured the RF output of the laptop in that state. They didn't perform - or performed, but didn't publish - the obvious control experiment.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
May all the weak Wi-Fi afflicted sperm perish as their superior Wi-Fi resistant brethren overtake the womb!
Good news for you, plenty of much more effective alternatives to bathing your genitalia in microwaves exist, research an ancient technology known as Birth Control. Effective versions of the condom, diaphram, IUD, and oral contraceptives have existed for millennia. You too can prevent your little swimmers from reaching an ovum!
How is a signal with a wavelength of 5" (wifi is around 2.4 GHz, 2.4E9/3E8*39.37in/m=4.9") supposed to interact with a human sperm, which, according to wikipedia, is comprised of a head 5 um long and a tail 41 um long, all of which total 0.002 inches. These arguments never ever make any sense to me.
Just my $0.55 (US inflation, 1774-2008, for $0.02)
You should indeed RTFA: "A separate test also showed that merely placing sperm near a computer (without Wi-Fi) does not cause nearly the same damage."
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
You could bedazzle your balls with aluminum sequins, that will maintain full sack flexibility while guarding your nuts from the wifi waves, and you'll have DISCO BALLS! XD
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
That news report is wrong. The seperate test in question evaluated the RF output of a laptop with its wifi switched off, but it did not measure sperm motility after exposure to that laptop:
"A separate test with a laptop that was on, but not wirelessly connected, found negligible EM radiation from the machine alone."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45469130/ns/health-mens_health/#.TtT0PlabUlT
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
This is retarded. They could have aimed a corded wi-fi antenna at it, but instead they just put the whole computer next to it and "blamed" the wi-fi.
Therefore did not test to see if any gasses released from the plastics in the laptop could be the effect. They are testing cells exposed to the environment not inside of it's intended sealed container.
Lots of variables they did not account for.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Go ahead and do it. It's been five years for me and it's great. Everything still works.
Of course, don't even consider it unless you already have children and you are in a long-term committed and successful relationship.
Nowadays, they do it with laser beams and you don't have have sore nuts for a week or anything. My doctor gave me a tootsie pop (seriously) after he was done and it was great! I'd go do it again, but it would be kind of redundant, I think. Man, I loved that tootsie pop. It was the grape, which is my favorite.
You are welcome on my lawn.
They put the laptop 3CM above the sperm and tried to control the temperature from below and via air conditioning. If I got it right while skimming through it, they also measured sperm temp every 5min using an infrared thermometer.
However the control was NOT a laptop with the wifi turned off but a setting with no exposure to electrical equipment at all. Which is not a control for WiFi but a control for a "Laptop with Wifi on".
Which leads me to think that the reason they chose this setup was that they couldn't get a useful result when using a laptop without WiFi as a control. The effect could in theory be caused by any part or combination of parts inside the laptop.
Yes, yes it does matter. You have just begged the question (by the real meaning).
I take reports of damage to cells in a dish with a grain of salt. This isn't a natural environment for the cells, and it is incredibly easy to harm them accidentally in a variety of ways. When the phenomenon is unlikely to begin with (damage to cells from photons that individually don't carry enough energy to produce lasting changes in any biological molecule), place your bets on "artifact."
So, wait one. What you seem to be saying is, if we want to stop nerds from reproducing, all we need to do is pop them in the microwave? Seems a bit of repetitive redundancy, doesn't it? I mean, how many nerds are going to breed, anyway?
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Man, I don't want to see what happens when a pejazzler meets a vajazzler...
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
All computers emit RF radiation when they're running, whether or not they even have WiFi installed. Regulations require manufacturers to limit this radiation, but it's still there; and with a computer in very close proximity to a test subject, (spermatozoon, human, or otherwise), it's probably a toss-up as to whether any effects attributable to RF radiation are a result of WiFi, or of the 1GHz+ processor, the switching power supplies, and any of several other possible sources of radio frequency energy.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
Nerds not getting laid leads to them not reproducing.
I have been using wi-fi for ~10 years. I have 2 kids under 2yo, they will probably disagree with the findings.
this whole article makes me wonder where some of our biology research dollars are going. I mean really, c'mon? I know there are people out there struggling with infertility and looking for any scapegoat as to why they can't get pregnant, but most of these ray gun type theories are complete crap. Don't live under power lines, don't sit too close to a tube tv, don't use your phone, don't use your laptop, watch that microwave. Sounds like instead of tin foil hats, they need tin foil underpants.
You keep talking about pussy vasectomies. I don't think you understand what a vasectomy is.
Abstinence?
All the world's a CPU, and all the men and women merely AI agents