Going with hot tubs…
Indeed. Birth rate does not equal fertility rate! (Even if there may be some correlation.)
Upon mansplaing to a girlfriend how air-cooled engines worked (fins increase the surface area exposed to the air promoting promoting better heat transfer), she replied with the observation - “I suppose that’s why testicles are wrinkly!”
Another consideration to remember is that wealthy people are far more likely to have access to fertility services if they are having trouble conceiving so a widespread decline in fertility will have a disproportionate impact on poor people.
Every human being deserves the dignity of making their own reproductive decisions, and wishing infertility upon others is Not Cool.
No, he was right. McGuire was a Malthusian extremist.
I’m fine with it, personally.
It’s totally fine to celebrate infertility for oneself because every human being deserves to have control over their reproductive lives. It’s much less cool to celebrate infertility for others.
Quite fair enough!
Perhaps men with low sperm counts are the ones more likely to have their sperm counted.
(Yes, I see the door.)
This is from CNN that seems to be referencing the same study, I can’t be sure because the link to National Geographic wants money but I’m pretty sure this is the same study.
The researchers excluded studies that featured only men who were being evaluated for infertility, those that selected only men who had normal sperm counts and those whose study participants were selected based on genital abnormalities or diseases. They included only studies published in English, those with 10 or more men and those with participants whose sperm was collected in the typical way and counted using a device called a hemocytometer.
They ended with this.
“While it’s not a cause for panic, because the counts are by and large still normal, on average, there is a risk that they could become abnormal in the future, and we have to recognize that and study that further,” Lundy said.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/18/health/sperm-counts-decline-debate
I think that there may be a Sperm Count Lobby stirring up trouble.
Should I be suspicious if the sperm census knocks on my door and wants to know how many sperm live here?
Don’t shake their hand.
Meh, we had a good run. As they say over at the Voluntary Human Extinction website, “May we live long, and die out”.
Even the CARP are DYING!?!
If it is straightforwardly true that sperm counts have fallen by 62% in 50 years, and the rate of change is increasing, then humans will be extinct in a century or so. Which, perhaps that is the consensus? But my modest science background leads me to think the imminent end of human life would be getting a bit more attention.
The fact there’s no mention of large-scale studies, or studies in other mammals, or the connection to actual fertility, makes this sound like a real but narrow technical concern that’s being either weaponised by someone, or just communicated so badly as to leave me less well-informed than I started.
Carl Sagan sez extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. I’d add, extraordinary claims backed with conspicuously narrow evidence usually mean someone wants you to fill in the gaps with extraordinary prejudice.
Boxers vs. Briefs
Anecdotally, I’m down one testicle thanks to cancer but apparently my sperm count is still in the tens of millions per milliliter (which is, I’ve been informed, plenty). It’s probably cause for concern regarding pollution but I don’t think we need to worry about the species just yet.
And now I wonder what mine is…
Also given that this is part of the backstory for A Handmaids Tale (less sperm = less babies being born), you know they’re going to continue down that playbook of using dystopian fiction written as a warning to enact policy.
