{"id":665687,"date":"2025-04-27T04:47:36","date_gmt":"2025-04-27T01:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/us-students-race-sperm-in-reproductive-health-stunt\/"},"modified":"2025-04-27T04:47:36","modified_gmt":"2025-04-27T01:47:36","slug":"us-students-race-sperm-in-reproductive-health-stunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/us-students-race-sperm-in-reproductive-health-stunt\/","title":{"rendered":"US students &#8216;race&#8217; sperm in reproductive health stunt"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a40b6055da77\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a40b6055da77\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/us-students-race-sperm-in-reproductive-health-stunt\/#%E2%80%98Not_Elon_Musk\" >&#8216;Not Elon Musk&#8217;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-gallery lightGallery\">\n<div data-thumb=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/tmb\/2018\/spermcells.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/hires\/2018\/spermcells.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Credit: CC0 Public Domain\">\n<figure class=\"article-img\">\n            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/800a\/2018\/spermcells.jpg\" alt=\"sperm cells\" title=\"Credit: CC0 Public Domain\" width=\"800\" height=\"530\"\/><figcaption class=\"text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3\">\n                Credit: CC0 Public Domain<br \/>\n            <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>A commentator yells excitedly as hundreds of spectators stand glued to a video of a racecourse\u2014but the athletes they are rooting for are actually tiny sperm cells.<\/p>\n<p>The unusual sport was invented by 17-year-old high schooler Eric Zhu, who raised over a million dollars to organize the event to call attention to male infertility.<\/p>\n<p>Zhu said he was inspired by <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">social media<\/a> posts that claim average sperm counts had halved over the past 50 years.<\/p>\n<p>Fearing that &#8220;there could be this dystopian future where no one will be able to make babies,&#8221; Zhu said he wanted to use the competition to highlight the importance of reproductive health.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists have not reached a consensus on whether humanity has experienced a dramatic drop in sperm count, with studies showing conflicting results.<\/p>\n<p>At the Los Angeles event on Friday night, a man in a lab coat used pipettes to place samples of semen\u2014collected from contestants ahead of time\u2014onto tiny two-millimeter-long &#8220;tracks.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The race track was magnified 100 times by a microscope, then filmed by a camera that transferred the image to a 3D animation software before the final video was broadcast to the audience.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s no way to really tell if this is real, but I want to believe it is,&#8221; Felix Escobar, a 20-year-old spectator, told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of the brief race, the loser, 19-year-old University of California student Asher Proeger, was sprayed with a liquid resembling semen.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%98Not_Elon_Musk\"><\/span>&#8216;Not Elon Musk&#8217;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Zhu&#8217;s fears about fertility echo the talking points of many in the burgeoning pro-natalist movement, which include conservative and far-right political figures.<\/p>\n<p>But Zhu distanced himself from the movement.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I have nothing to do with this, I&#8217;m not like an Elon Musk, who wants to repopulate Earth,&#8221; the young entrepreneur told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>Musk, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, has been vocal about his belief that population decline threatens the West and has fathered over a dozen children with multiple women.<\/p>\n<p>Zhu insisted he simply wanted to raise awareness of how sperm quality goes hand in hand with overall health.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s your choice to sleep earlier. It&#8217;s your choice to stop doing drugs. It&#8217;s your choice to eat healthier, and all these different things have a significant kind of impact on your motility,&#8221; Zhu said.<\/p>\n<p>Shanna Swan, a reproductive epidemiologist at Mount Sinai&#8217;s Icahn School of Medicine, co-authored a study that found the sperm count decline cited by Zhu.<\/p>\n<p>She said the proliferation of &#8220;hormonally active chemicals&#8221; in recent years has had a negative impact on human fertility.<\/p>\n<p>But beneath the scientific veneer, the sperm race may seem more like an opportunity for college students to display their adolescent humor and participate in a viral stunt.<\/p>\n<p>Some attendees dressed in costumes, including one resembling male genitals, while the hosts made lewd jokes and roasted the competitors.<\/p>\n<p>A YouTube livestream of the event attracted over 100,000 views.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t say I learned stuff I didn&#8217;t know before,&#8221; 22-year-old student and audience member Alberto Avila-Baca told AFP.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-main__note mt-4\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t  \u00a9 2025 AFP\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- print only --><\/p>\n<div class=\"d-none d-print-block\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<strong>Citation<\/strong>:<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUS students &#8216;race&#8217; sperm in reproductive health stunt (2025, April 26)<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tretrieved 26 April 2025<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfrom https:\/\/phys.org\/<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a>\/2025-04-students-sperm-reproductive-health-stunt.html\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script id=\"facebook-jssdk\" async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/category\/sciencee\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Science category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2025-04-students-sperm-reproductive-health-stunt.html\" target=\"_blank\" >Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Credit: CC0 Public Domain A commentator yells excitedly as hundreds of spectators stand glued to a video of a racecourse\u2014but the athletes they are rooting for are actually tiny sperm cells. The unusual sport was invented by 17-year-old high schooler Eric Zhu, who raised over a million dollars to organize the event to call attention&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":665688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/hires\/2018\/spermcells.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-665687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sciencee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}