Mouse Sperm Cells Grown In Vitro

smitty777 writes "In what is being hailed as a breakthrough in male infertility, researchers from Muenster and Ben Gurion Universities were able to actually grow mouse sperm cells in a petri dish. Researchers feel this is just a short step away from human in vitro sperm cell production. The details of how this will be accomplished are still being worked out. FTA: '[According to Professor Richard Sharpe], "What this research shows is that it will be possible to make human sperm outside the body. The germ cells just need the right environment. That's the tricky part getting them to think they are in the testes." Professor Sharpe believes that one novel way may make.it possible. He proposes using a live mouse as a "host" to make human sperm. He said: "What you would do is take some human testicular tissue with germ cells and place that under the skin of the mouse and use it to incubate the cells. You could then extract any sperm and use it in fertility treatment. But we would have to demonstrate that there were no mouse cells present in the extracted sperm if we were to use this technique and I believe that's possible."'"

Comments

This will finally make men obsolete.

[Anonymous Coward]

All men will become obsolete, and militant feminists will rule the world!

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[EzInKy]

With women having all the essentials to reproduce and rear offspring and men having but one that may very well be the ultimate destiny of the human race.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Azuaron]

You read the part where they still need germ cells from the testes, right?

Or do you not know what testes are? Did someone never have The Talk with you?

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Anonymous Coward]

and militant feminists will rule the world!

At that point I request death by Snu Snu.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Anonymous Coward]

More lesbian porn yeah!!!!

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not really. Male researchers will simply develop artificial wombs and keep farm-bred females available for source material. This will also keep the cost of courting females way down. That might hurt the economy though, as bar and restaurant association members might object. And what about the fashion industry. We will always need men, because we will always need someone to open the door! The battle of the sexes will never end! Long live sexual in-fighting, and occasional cooperation - under and over the sheets!

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[X0563511]

The genes for it are there... so if they can grow what they need for this process...

Yikes. Scary thought.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.amazon.com/Regiment-Women-Novel-Thomas-Berger/dp/0316092428

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[EzInKy]

Since women have wombs naturally the path of least resistance leads to a female dominated society, and since women love baubles the economy will naturally improve. As for door opening, I take it you've never been to a lesbian bar. Men are superflous.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[ShavedOrangutan]

Doubly so since their offspring could only ever be female.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Anonymous Coward]

Because woman are so much better morally than men? Keep trying to believe that.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Rhacman]

And when artifical wombs are developed we won't need women either. Since humanity is composed of men and women (or some superposition of the two states) humanity itself will become obsolete and we wont need humans any more! How's that for eliminating extraneous terms!

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought men were kept around to kill spiders.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[wiedzmin]

If all your woman wants from you is your sperm, you're doing it wrong.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Penguinisto]

Oh, bullshit. The shoe shortage alone would cause wars that would make WWII look like a minor spat, and Mom-JeansGate would make Nixon look like a saint.

On a more serious note, the only way such a society could survive for long would be as long as civilization held up. As history shows, that's not always a given.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Penguinisto]

So, err, that whole 'growing sperm cells in a lab' thing comes naturally too, then?

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Master Moose]

Except when it comes time to open jars.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Anonymous Coward]

If all your woman wants from you is your sperm, you're doing it right.

- fixed that for you

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[EzInKy]

A leads to B leads to C. Women's motivation to get rid of men is a lot higher than men's motivation to get rid of women.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[ClioCJS]

all you ever have to do is bang the corner of the lid at a 45 angle and any jar is openable by anybody ... but we still make better sandwiches than them. We just can't be bothered to do it usually.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[epyT-R]

yeah except when it's time to do the dirty work/heavy lifting.. then it's ''omg I need a man'. of course, when it's NOT time to do the dirty work, we're all 'equals'.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[epyT-R]

that's because women don't instinctively realize just how harsh life can be.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[epyT-R]

you laugh but the current political climate might actually go for it at some point. here in the USA the federal government is little more than a conglomerate of powerful economic and social lobbies, among them womens' groups and business owners who want docile, obedient self regulated conformists as employees, men and women both.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Anonymous Coward]

If all your woman wants from you is your sperm, you're doing it right.

- broke that for you

- Fixed that for you.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[geekoid]

Everything else she can get from other means...well I guess everything now.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not just that, ever worked in an office that's pretty much a hen-fest? Noticed how they start to synchronize their periods somehow?

Just think about it. An entire planet on PMS at once. It'd make WW2 look like NOTHING.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Master Moose]

Shhh! don't give away man-secrets

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Moryath]

You won't get it. Unless you somehow live in the Men's Concentration Camps until the time of the great battery famine.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[ClioCJS]

But then I can refuse to help and spend my time smoking and drinking instead!

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Macgrrl]

My husband is far more arachnaphobic than I am. I'm usually the one who has to remove spiders from our house.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Macgrrl]

I'm pretty sure most women (when taken over the entire period of history) have been well arware of how harsh life could be, you know being sold as chattels to older men, dying in childbirth, carrying water from wells, watching their children die from disease, infection or starvation, washing clothes with rocks in stream, milling wheat to flour by hand from grain, etc...

Women may not have been sent out to fight in wars as a general rule, but for those living in warzones thay experienced it every bit as much as men did.

Things got cushy for women in the first world about the same time they got cushy for men.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[epyT-R]

I'm the idiot when you are the one responding with ad hominem?

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[pushing-robot]

Of course, tradition will prevent this from happening for many years to come. I can only imagine the conversations a lot of Chinese families will be having a decade or two from now:

"Sorry, son. We chose to give you a significantly shorter lifespan, an inferior immune system, poorer social skills, and the inability to have one of life's most powerful experiences. Also, since tons of other families did the same thing, there's a big gender gap today and you'll be lucky to find someone to fall in love with. But look on the bright side: You're much better at opening jars, lifting heavy loads, and at the time your gender really impressed all our friends!"

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[epyT-R]

I didn't mean to imply life was a wonderful paradise for them or that they didn't sacrifice, just that men have done a large part of the interface work with reality required to maintain a civilization...most of (but not all) the big picture stuff. yes women bore and raised the offspring (which is critical obviously), prepared food, and handled part of the home maintenance, but right along side that were the men defending their existence, building the homes, hunting/working for the food that was prepared, solving life's bigger calamities when they occurred, advancing the quality of life with creative invention/science, and were the first ones to sacrifice their lives for their families. This, to a lesser degree, is still true today, except that men are no longer respected for it, and while feminine attributes/role takeovers are celebrated to the point of absurdity, masculine ones are increasingly censured, often starting in kindergarten.

Through my life, in situations where I hear women talking, especially when they don't realize I'm listening, their use of the language makes their self centered attitudes towards men come out loud and clear. the things they say make me conclude that they're just unaware of the work that goes into maintaining a society such as ours. they seem to think nothing else is relevant to this goal other than their own (usually immediate) needs and that men who aren't feminist doormats obstruct their satiation and advancement. I would expect this from people who've grown used to a chattel role or have just experienced no other, which is why I thought it might be due to natural instinct run rampant by modern feminism. women just aren't taught to respect the value men bring to the table anymore. men of course are being taught to be the aforementioned doormats.

In terms of this topic, I think artificial sperm culturing would give this already overdominant anti-male trend even more steam. Women have been taught to think they could be 100% self reliant if only men would 'let them'. From what I've seen, it's a lot more complicated than that, but, men, instinctively being the providers, gave them the next best thing: a doublethink fantasy.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Anonymous Coward]

Pot, meet kettle.

It's sad to see us men having been brainwashed into taking it as a given that men would be "inferior",
EXACTLY the same way women were made to think that before.

Also, true feminists hate nothing more than female ideals.
They want to suppress every girl that likes to play with puppets, and force every woman into a job she doesn't like, just to prove the point that we wouldn't need men. Regardless of everyone suffering from it.
That's a bad stated of deep mental illness.
I can understand their view, as those feminazis were themselves victims of men.
But of course it's bad for everyone, including themselves. And it's entirely delusional anyway, same as those 50s-style sexists.

Real women love men, real men love women, and real humans aren't such dicks anyway.
Nobody want to wipe out men. Or would you have any interest in wiping out women, if you would get robotic sex slaves to bang all day?
NO, of course not. A robot can't give you love. A in-vitro sperm cell can't give you love. And for nearly all women, another woman also can't give them love.

Man, all you idiots should get out into the real world more often!

P.S.: Even lesbians can't stand feminazis, just as we today can't stand the sexists from the 50s. Mainly because they make the entire gender / group look bad.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is that comment insightful?

I'm a woman. 4'11", 115 pounds. I have no family...no dad, no brothers, no male cousins or uncles or anything. I don't have a boyfriend. I don't have any male close friends. It's been this way for most of my adult life. (I'm 28.)

The furniture in my home is all cheap and flimsy. Not because I WANT cheap, but because I physically can only move things that can be A) disassembled (in which case I take the furniture apart and move it in pieces), or which A) are not made of solid, long-lasting materials, but lightweight, cheap ones. Furniture is just NOT made to be moved by someone of my size solo. It's not a matter of "manning up" or "womaning up" or whatever and putting elbow grease into it...I just have trouble moving it for even enough time to get it out of a house and into a van or whatever. I can do a burst of strength sometimes, but I can't sustain it enough to do much useful. A sauce pot of water will make my arm tremble if I try to lift it and just hold it there. And a few weeks ago I wanted to put new pedals on my bike myself, and I just could not get the old fucked up ones off, which is dumb because I have to bring it into a shop for something I COULD have done myself if the pedals would just come off.

Most men have not been the size I am now (and the size I will always be, for the rest of my life) since middle school, or more likely, late grade school.

If the world was "made" for "my size" I would probably have no problem with furniture. The size of chairs, for example, would be smaller across the seat and back, and lower to the ground, and therefore use less material, and thus weigh less. But furniture and heavy objects aren't made for "small people"...they're made for "average people".

I'm not a huge athelete, but I'm not physically TOO lazy...I bike everywhere (no car), and sometimes carry heavy groceries on my bike. (Canned goods, gallons of milk, etc.) I can manage to carry heavy things on my bike because a bike is a wonderfully efficient machine. It does most of the work, I just provide the balance and a little bit of push. Easy. But most things in life aren't as awesome as a bicycle, and when I have to put bare muscle into it...well, I have twigs for arms. That's just what I was given.

I can't talk for women who are the same size as dudes, but I do try to pull my own weight (so to speak!)

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is that comment insightful?

Because it's true. Your life story clearly reiterates it. Whenever there's heavy lifting to be done, OMG you need a man. You don't have a man so apparently you just do without any heavy lifting.

BTW, you sound weak. My ex is about the same size and can easily do all the things you have trouble with. However, when there's real heavy lifting to be done....

In terms of physical strength: weak woman < strong woman < weak man < strong man < any other large animal. That's a fact of life. It doesn't fit well with modern politically correct egalitarian ideology, but reality is bigoted and discriminatory that way.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[epyT-R]

the statement is based on behavioral trends. when the going gets tough, most women will defer to, instinctively, and/or manipulate an available man into doing the task. viewing examples of this ubiquity is easy. if you want the cultural reflection of current norms and trends, turn on the tv, and if you want realtime sampling, go to a public place where people interact and pay attention. there is a nasty double standard brewing in the culture that is detrimental to men and boys and it is quite obvious, even in irrelevancies like television commercials. it is a biological fact that women are not as strong as men physically, while mentally, the genders differ in temperament and focus. men tend to be world focused, while women tend to be people focused. these are biases, not absolutes, but they should be encouraged, not censured for the sake of some politically charged ideology.

anyway, based on what I've seen and read, women have shown better small motor dexterity than most men, though there are exceptions. in terms of overall capabilities, the male performance curve slopes much more than the female.. ie the majority of geniuses are men as are the majority of retarded people. fewer women suffer neurological and physical disability than men. it looks like men are nature's 'gamble.' they serve the species by being the differentiators who advertise latent talent, while the women choose which qualities they like when they make their sexual selections. except in the most cerebral of people, most of this is done nonverbally and subconciously by both genders regardless of what political think-tank 'theories' state.

also my comment didn't just imply physical labor.. by 'dirty work' I meant any time a serious effort was needed that does not (usually) get the spotlight when it comes time for the reward.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[AlphaWolf_HK]

Real women love men, real men love women, and real humans aren't such dicks anyway.

So lesbians aren't real women, and gays aren't real men?

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Anonymous Coward]

... because the act of loving someone requires them to match your sexually preferred gender?

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Digital Vomit]

Well, at least for the first month...

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[jpapon]

I find it's much better to take a knife and stick it under the lip of the lid slightly, and bend it to break the vacuum seal.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[ClioCJS]

I'd rather not bend my knives and lose (number of jars I open during the rest of my life * (time to get knife + time to put knife away)) seconds.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[oldmac31310]

What's snu-snu?

Not much. What's snu-snu with you?

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmmm. Towards then end of our marriage it became clear that all the bitch wanted was my sperm. True story. Then in the divorce proceedings the lying fuck had the nerve to claim that the grounds for divorce were that I had denied her sex! At that point in time I had already got myself away from the psycho.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[treeves]

I find a spoon works better usually.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Ofloo]

I don't know I don't mind getting a pork or ape heart, .. or whatever, yet I wouldn't want my kids grown from mouse cells. Also, they still need tissue from human males, .. which means to me that the sperm cells that are breath, will still contain that persons DNA, I mean wtf is the advantage that they wouldn't need someone jerking off anymore, but that's about it. Aside from that I don't really see any advantages, .. they still need a man to extract the tissue from. And it's going to cost, .. more to breath those sperm cells the only difference is the quality might be better cause age might not matter, .. anymore.

Re:This will finally make men obsolete.

[Ofloo]

Don't get me wrong it's really cool that they are able to do this, but that's just about it, .. It would cost more to grow sperm cells then paying someone to jerk off ! And they still need testicle tissue to grow it, ... so eventually they still need to pay someone in order to get that tissue, ... and then they need to pay for growing the sperm. Some people have issues with donating sperm, but how many of you want to get their testicles pierced in order to give a sample? And DNA doesn't fall from the sky so eventually they still need several donors like they do now, again I don't see the usefulness of this research, it's cool, and it probably has some value for understanding cells and shit, but don't think you'll see this on the market any time soon unless the father isn't able to grow his own sperm anymore, ..

AC's Sperm Cells Grow in Your Mother's Vag

[Anonymous Coward]

news at 11

Missing tag:

[FunkyRider]

whatcouldpossiblygowrong. Shit, I ain't gonna let a mouse fuck my wife, be it having my testicle or not!

Cue jockeying for sports animal in...

[Oxford_Comma_Lover]

I can see them charging more based on what animal is used. "What? They're growing sperm in mice? We will grow your sperm in Lion testicles for the low price of $50,000."

ethical debate?

[Anonymous Coward]

I can see a massive extended ethical debate before this is approved in any developed country. No doubt a rougue state will attempt to commercialise it for those who want to bypass ethics. Any guesses which one will be first?

Do not want

[Anonymous Coward]

Overpopulation is currently a bigger concern.

The last thing we need is more fertile males running around.

Give us abundant cheap energy and food replication!

Oh, and practical interstellar travel.

Re:Do not want

[ShavedOrangutan]

The last thing we need is more fertile males running around.

The kind of people who would be able to afford this type of treatment (or any fertility treatment) tend to not have very many children anyways.

Re:Do not want

[Penguinisto]

Oh, and practical interstellar travel.

Get that last part down, and you solve all the rest as listed, because you'll have more living space and potential resources than you'll know what to do with.

Re:Do not want

[interkin3tic]

Give us abundant cheap energy and food replication!

I don't particularly fancy it, but that second part could be addressed with the current subject...

Re:Do not want

[robthebloke]

Overpopulation is currently a bigger concern.

Which is why the lion idea has legs. Just dress the prospective father in a gazelle suit, and point him in the direction of dave the lion. I imagine it would prove to be an extremely effective contraceptive.

Are you..

[Master Moose]

A man or a mouse?

Re:Are you..

[Anonymous Coward]

Both I guess...

Re:Are you..

[Anonymous Coward]

are you a man or a moose?

Re:Are you..

[HiggsBison]

Stuart Little?

Re:Are you..

[sayno2quat]

Are you a man or a muppet?

Re:Are you..

[Master Moose]

Either a muppet of a man or a very manly muppet

There are enough people.

[Capt.DrumkenBum]

More research into expanding the food supply might be a better use of resources. Realistically doesn't this just make it more likely for people with defective genes to reproduce?

Re:There are enough people.

[Hoi Polloi]

Realistically doesn't this just make it more likely for people with defective genes to reproduce?

People of Wal-Mart needs a steady supply of customers.

Re:There are enough people.

[similar_name]

Realistically doesn't this just make it more likely for people with defective genes to reproduce?

Doesn't most medical and technological advancement?

Re:There are enough people.

[geekoid]

Since you can create the sperm, no. It's more of a chance that a healthy smart well formed person is born.

Re:There are enough people.

[rainmouse]

More research into expanding the food supply might be a better use of resources.

More food = more people

What we need is better education and family planning services in poorer countries.

Re:There are enough people.

[Anonymous Coward]

Do we really need to increase the population? Is not 6 Billion of us enough?

Re:There are enough people.

[misexistentialist]

More people=more food

a young healthy child, well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food

--Dr. J. Swift

Re:There are enough people.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not necessarily. You can also see it as more food = greater survival rates for children = less need to have offspring = (reduced population + a stronger population devoting) less resources to finding their next meal = greater odds for improving social development.

Re:There are enough people.

[ragefan]

We produce plenty of food globally. The problem is distribution.

Re:There are enough people.

[Anonymous Coward]

More food = more people

What we need are bloody wars to kill off the excess people!

-ftfy

Re:There are enough people.

[Merls the Sneaky]

It's seven billion now.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/31/uk-population-baby-india-idUSLNE79U04N20111031

Re:There are enough people.

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, that's a pretty hurtful thing to say. Sick people shouldn't breed? How much of medical advancement is necessitated by the consequences of our technological advancement?

Treatment of trauma for accidents which occur to anyone regardless of lineage. A friend of mine got hit by a car a few weeks back. He's a genius, but some twat ran him over. Fuck him, his genes must suck.
While cancer is a disease of genetic mutation, it doesn't mean you have to have certain genetic propensities to get it. Radiation exposure or even random chance. Or are you one of those nutters that think if you eat enough fruit, you can cure cancer yourself? I wonder why I got bone cancer in just my right femur and nowhere else. My genes must suck, fuck me.

Re:There are enough people.

[Anonymous Coward]

And anyway its wrong.

Most medical advancements enable people well past breeding age to survive longer.

Stuart Little

[BarryHaworth]

Now we know where Stuart Little came from.

Or perhaps why Mrs Little was so keen to adopt him.

Dominant Females

[Master Moose]

So now they propose using mice as some sort of external testicles. (furry flesh bags used for containing and growing sperm). Small and portable enough to carry in a pocket, purse or such?

People used to tell me that my wife carried my balls in her handbag - this brings it closer to relaity.

Re:Dominant Females

[PPH]

Either way, she screams and jumps up on a chair when she sees them.

Re:Dominant Females

[Anonymous Coward]

At least, that's what she did last time she chinned mine.

Honey, why does our baby....

[Anonymous Coward]

... look like Mickey Mouse?

old school

[Master Obi-Jon]

I think I prefer making my own sperm and children the old fashioned way, thanks.

Why bother?

[Hoi Polloi]

I'm pretty sure you can get plenty of sperm for free from millions of sources. Many of them will pay you to take it.

Re:Why bother?

[mewsenews]

i heard that they don't even allow redheads at sperm banks anymore

Well damn

[geekoid]

women don't have to put up with us anymore.

Re:Well damn

[epyT-R]

get some self respect.. you've got a serious case of stockholm syndrome.

Great use of scientific resources

[Anonymous Coward]

Improved human fertility. Thank god; I was beginning to think our species was about to go extinct! Was really touch-and-go for a while there..

Gender selection?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sperm determines gender, and IIRC there are detectible differences between the two types. The next step will be to supply "filtered" sperm and guarantee the sex of the resulting child. Given the cost of in vitro, a LOT of prospective parents will pay extra for the choice. I suspect it will be popular in certain countries as well.

It would be great for low count guys too.

Re:Gender selection?

[Anonymous Coward]

you don't need to go to the effort of growing sperm cells for gender selection. the in vitro process to select gender is already known and used with humans (with a great deal of controversy in western countries).

COOL!

[cshark]

So when do I get my genetically engineered mouse man slaves? I'm sure it'll be cheaper than hiring indians.

great

[Anonymous Coward]

As if mice needed any help reproducing....

I don't give a rats' ass

[vencs]

but rather rats' balls..

btw, your balls are going to feel the same pain when kicked.

I don't know what to make of this,

[Sla$hPot]

It sounds like Mickey Mouse science or maybe just mad science. Copyism?
And I wonder how far they will grow these new cells and if they will try to produce embryos from them.
It would definitely bring a new meaning to the question "are you man or mouse?"

"there were no mouse cells present"

[XERQ]

I, for one, welcome our new mouse overlords.

Great. Just what we need...

[Anonymous Coward]

More frelling people to feed, clothe, house and employ. With the population anticipated to hit 10B in the next 30 years, do we _need_ to spend more research effort of making more poeple?

Murine viruses

[cpricejones]

I think one worry from this type of technique would be the inclusion of murine virion DNA. For example, the likely source of XMRV was due to infection of human cells passaged through mice (that's my understanding of the cause). No one wants to accidentally create a new retrovirus ...

Re:Murine viruses

[Hankavelli]

Actually, according to the article, the sperm cells are grown in sterile jelly. There would be zero contact between human and non-human cells. The researchers used mouse models to test the process. They grew mouse sperm from mouse germ cells. In the future they would like to grow human sperm from human germ cells.

Re:Murine viruses

[cpricejones]

Oh ok. I got the impression that would be passaging the human cells through mice at some point.

Kudos

[Anonymous Coward]

Funniest thing I've seen on Slashdot all-year, including all of 2011.

Women are scared of mice...

[flyingfsck]

Won't happen...

A really important question

[nilbog]

So could they manufacture sperm from women? Imagine the possibilities!

Re:A really important question

[OrangeTide]

I'm wondering the same thing, can a female stem cell be convinced it is teste germ cell, then using this process make a creature that has two moms?

TMNT

[Anonymous Coward]

I have always wondered how Rocksteady and Bebop could be created. Now we know..

I wonder who is going to try this first..and if the result is half human ... Will we treat it like gorillas... Or as a human.

Meanwhile, perhaps it is time to invent a cellular hygiene detector....

Re:TMNT

[cshark]

I propose we lock them in a bunker, feed them worms, and wait for them to rebel.

Flying cars!

[dutchwhizzman]

Interstellar travel be damned, they promised me a flying car way before that!

morgauxo

[morgauxo]

So then there will be no selection pressure for fertility anymore.... The author says male infertility is on the rise now, just wait until this has been a common practice for about 10 generations or so. I think modern medicine is great and wouldn't trade it for the world but it's going to really trash our evolution. If this trend continues genetically engineered humans aren't going to be a controversial choice they are going to be a necessity. We will need to fix all the bad genes that are no longer selected against.

Darwin...

[Anonymous Coward]

If your body fails to produce sperm and does not have the ability to transmit it properly to a female host then MAYBE you shouldn't be having children? About the only exclusion to this is men injured in an accident before fathering children.

Frankly the same goes for women... as a person in my mid-30s with no children I'm really nervous about my spouse not being able to conceive the older we get, buat the same time I recognize that human evolution has reached the point it has by allowing the weak reproducers to die off.

Re:Darwin...

[compro01]

If your body fails to produce sperm and does not have the ability to transmit it properly to a female host then MAYBE you shouldn't be having children?

Right. Because one specific defect automatically means you have no useful genetic characteristics.

Re:Darwin...

[morgauxo]

I don't know about that one... If the fact we don't reproduce in our old age is the reason evolution doesn't select genes to give us longer lifespans then maybe having kids at an older age is a good thing.

Re:Darwin...

[morgauxo]

Actually, that rule has worked well for billions of years.

Re:Darwin...

[compro01]

For a definition of "well" that does not include tools or complex societies.

Re:Are you..Spider Goat Man...

[Anonymous Coward]

They should've skipped mice and went straight to spider goats. Imagine if your kid had horns and could shoot webs from his nose...badass.

We are men! Hear us roar!

[Hankavelli]

Women are great. I have no problem with women. But for goodness sake, I've had enough of this ridiculous female chauvinism that dominates our society today.

Men are awesome. Even in this world where all the rules have been skewed in favor of women (women get better grades and graduate high school, attend college, and get degrees at higher rates than men) men are still disproportionately represented at the highest levels in most challenging creative endeavors. Look around you. See all that stuff (electronics, furniture, buildings)? It was predominantly invented, designed, and produced by men. Go to any (co-ed) college and walk through their chemistry, physics, engineering, and CS departments. What will you see? Mostly men. Look at the top of best sellers lists and music charts: a lot of men still showing up there. Cutting edge graphic designers, architects, film producers, etc.? Men are still disproportionately represented here too.

Certainly women are capable of doing these things. The knack for these skills and the inclination to pursue them seem to be less common in women though. As much as the world has changed, as much as opportunities for women have expanded, men are still the providers. Sure women bring home income, but the people who invent, design, build, and run the machines that feed us, clothe us, shelter us, protect us, and even entertain us, are mostly still men.

I don't think this will ever change. Women tend to excel in interacting with the social environment and men tend to excel in interacting with the physical environment. As technology and science have allowed us to triumph over the physical forces that threaten us, the apparent importance of masculine skills has diminished. The physical environment and physical threats to our well being are held at bay and cordoned off so that we need hardly be aware of their existence. This leaves us in a primarily social world. Our homes, our schools, our workplaces are primarily social gatherings. In these spaces the tendency for women to excel socially makes them the dominant sex. The areas of male excellence are relegated to workshops, computer labs, offices, and obscure blackboards and conference rooms. Most people are largely oblivious to what happens in these places, while everyone shares our social venues.

I would wager that ninety years from now people will look back on the 21st century and find that men were, once again, primarily responsible for the expansion of human achievement vis-a-vis the physical world. They will have received of most of the Nobel prizes. They will have designed of most of the structures. They will have invented most of the innovations that improved our lives. They will have programmed most of the computers.

Are men obsolete? In so far as food, clothing, shelter, and protection are obsolete; in so far as invention and scientific and technological progress are obsolete; in so far as the production of things, ideas, and novel cultural content are no longer valid ways to contribute to human society; yes.

Who's your daddy...

[Anonymous Coward]

....gets a new meaning now!