Recent research into the health effects of the plastic-making chemicals phthalates has reignited concerns about low sperm counts. But the evidence is far from conclusive.
Articles on Sexual reproduction
Displaying 21 - 37 of 37 articles
We humans use the euphemism for sex that “we like to get a leg over” but the first jawed vertebrates – the placoderms – they liked to get a leg in. They were the first back-boned creatures to evolve male…
There is no denying that humans think sex is important, but it also matters for microbes. Sex allows genes from two parents to be mixed, leading to new combinations of genes in the offspring. In the past…
Fast and efficient sperm increases a male’s chance of fathering a female’s offspring. But it also increases the chance of…
Fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) adopt a mating strategy based on sibling relationships and the sexual familiarity of…
A neuropeptide that regulates sexual activity and reproduction in insects has been identified by a team of entomologists…
For half the population, it comes three to five days each month, 12 months each year, for 40 years of our lives. Menstruation can be debilitating, relieving, disappointing, or simply an inconvenient fact…
A recent opinion piece in the Fairfax papers – based on a Conversation article – discussed “the theory that (PMS) is all in women’s minds as opposed to their endocrinology …” Why is this debate from the…
A new study has revealed what many people possibly already suspect – males are more honest when displaying their “quality” to a partner than to an unfamiliar female. These findings, from a study of a socially…
Here’s some good news: having more sexual partners makes females more fertile. A recent study on Trinidadian guppies has shown that females who mate with multiple males produce more grand-offspring than…
In order to pass on their genes, southern dumpling squids engage in up to three hours of mating with each partner, which…
On the face of it, a sperm’s work seems pretty straightforward: locate an egg and fertilise it. Job done. But in the world of a sessile broadcast-spawning marine invertebrate – immobile organisms in which…
Few of us consider that having sex could result in a violent, instantaneous death. But in nature, where sex and violence are often two sides of the same coin, many animals are routinely subjected to such…
Sperm can join together into conglomerates to navigate the female reproductive tract, according to researchers from the University…
Few individuals in the Star Wars universe inspired more fear than the Sith Lord, Darth Vader. But beneath the dark exterior, the commander-formerly-known-as-Anakin-Skywalker might have been hiding a dark…
Male nursery web spiders who give gifts to females are more likely to successfully mate than males who don’t, according to…
Prevention is better than cure – especially in the field of sexual and reproductive health and especially in Australia, where…
Top contributors
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Principal Lecturer in Wildlife Conservation, Nottingham Trent University
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Jenny Graves is a Friend of The Conversation.
Distinguished Professor of Genetics and Vice Chancellor's Fellow, La Trobe University
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Emeritus Strategic Professor in Palaeontology, Flinders University
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Professor of Avian Behavioural Ecology, Macquarie University
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Reader / Associate Professor in Reproductive Science, Manchester Metropolitan University
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Professor of Animal Evolution & Systematics, University of Cape Town
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Professor of Protozoology, University of Bristol
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Senior Lecturer in Genetics, Adelaide University
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Group leader, male reproductive health, University of Edinburgh
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Emeritus Professor of Geological Sciences and Paleobotany, Indiana University
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PhD, Evolutionary Biology, Nantes Université
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Professor of Evolutionary Biology, Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR)
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Sexual health researcher, The University of Melbourne
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Postdoctoral Fellow in Integrative Biology, The University of Texas at Austin
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Research Fellow in Medical Anthropology, University of Bristol