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2024-11-11

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Scientists Took Semen Onto A "Vomit Comet" Flight, And The Results Were Concerning (www.iflscience.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/science

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"Exposure to short duration gravity load changes including microgravity, as sustained in a parabolic flight statistically significantly decreases the sperm motility and vitality of human fresh sperm samples," the team found, adding that this may have huge importance for any prolonged human settlement missions in space.

"In the future, should humans remain in space for long periods of time with exposure to different microgravity and hypergravity peaks, which could range from months to a number of years, reproduction may pose a problem to be tackled."

The mechanism by which sperm motility was decreased remains unknown, with further study needed.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

comparing an existing sample exposed to small doses of micro-gravity seems incredibly... useless.. compared to sperm generated in space. how can they even begin to use it to make generalizations on 'long term human space colonization'?

[–] lunarul 7 points 2 weeks ago

incredibly... useless.. compared to sperm generated in space

That's what I don't get. Transporting fresh sperm is not an issue that anyone cares about in space colonization. Sperm will get there in two ways: frozen or made on the spot.

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