The discovery by British scientists turns 350 years of science on its head which assumed their tail moved side to side “like a snake”. When shown in 3D sperm were shown to swim “like a spinning top” rotating only in one direction. The swimming technique was only now identified using a 55,000 frames-a-second camera on a mechanism which moved the sample rapidly to photograph it from all angles. “So little is known about the intricate environment inside the female reproductive tract and how sperm swimming impinge on fertilization. “With over half of infertility caused by male factors, understanding the human sperm tail is fundamental to developing future diagnostic tools to identify unhealthy sperm.”

Source: Daily Mirror July 31, 2020 21:56 UTC