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Journalism of Courage
A team of researchers found that exposing human sperm to ultrasound can make them swim faster. They exposed human semen samples to ultrasonic waves and then measured changes in “sperm motility.”
Research in the past have shown that reduced sperm motility can make it difficult for males to make a female pregnant. There are drugs that have been used to speed up the sperm but this could potentially cause issues like damage to sperm DNA, according to Monash University, where the engineers conducted the study. Fertility doctors get around this problem by collecting sperm from a donor and injecting them directly into the uterus.
The Monash University researchers collected 50 semen from both men with normal sperm motility and those with motilit problems. They then isolated the sperm cells and exposed them 800 megawatts of ultrasonic waves for 20 seconds. The samples were tested both before and after exposure to ultrasound.
The exposure dramatically increased motility, by as much as 266 per cent in one edge case. They also found that even sperm that were not moving at all could be jolted into starting with a dose of ultrasound waves.
The researchers propose that the sperm are speeding up because of the energy from the ultrasonic waves replacing what they lack in sperm cell mitochondrial energy. But the researchers admit that more work is needed to make sure the waves don’t damage the sperm cells or even the reproductive cells of the female.
