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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."'"
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!)