Sex in space? Sperm struggles to navigate during weightless sex
Under normal conditions with Earth's gravitational pull, the female reproductive tract releases the hormone progesterone after ovulation as a chemical signal to help sperm navigate toward the egg, McPherson said. To try to boost the odds that human sperm would reach the egg in microgravity, the researchers added this hormone to the system.
"It did help to some degree, but the concentrations needed to produce an effect were much higher than what would naturally occur in the female reproductive tract," McPherson said.
In theory, high doses of progesterone could be administered, but McPherson cautioned that more research into safety and efficacy is needed before this hormone could be prescribed as a fertility enhancer for space travelers.
Earth egg fertilization embryo hormone human Mars McPherson MOON navigate progesterone Researchers Sex Sex in space Space SPERM weightless
2026-03-30
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