Mr. Froggie goes a-courtin'

Preliminary research suggests that by mixing human sperm with a solution made from the crushed eggs of South African clawed frogs, a doctor could tell if a man’s sperm is up to the job of producing children. It seems that the frog eggs are packed with sperm activation factors, chemical signals that cause even human sperm to undergo changes necessary for conception, says David Brown, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the department of human biological chemistry and genetics. By looking for these changes, effective for in viltro fertilization. The inexpensive test would save infertile couples not only money but also the heartache of a futile in vitro fertilization procedure. – Jeffrey Csatari