Tag Archives: fertility

April 2019 in Review

Most frightening and/or depressing story:

The most frightening and/or depressing story often involves nuclear weapons and/or climate change, because these are the near-term existential threats we face. Oliver Stone has added a new chapter to his 2012 book The Untold History of the United States making a case that we have lost serious ground on both these issues since then. In a somewhat related depressing story, the massive New Orleans levy redesign in response to Hurricane Katrina does not appear to have made use of the latest climate science.

Most hopeful story:

There is forward progress on a male birth control pill.

Most interesting story, that was not particularly frightening or hopeful, or perhaps was a mixture of both:

Genetic engineering of humans might have to play a big role in eventual colonization of other planets, because the human body as it now exists may just not be cut out for long space journeys. In farther future space colonization news, I linked to a video about the concept of a “Dyson swarm“.

the latest on male birth control

Wired’s Gadget Lab, strangely enough, has an episode on male birth control. This is not a gadget, but a hormonal pill men could take. This has been a goal for many decades with little or no progress, and now it sounds like it may be within reach in the near future. Opinions will vary, but I think anything that gives us more control over our reproductive options is good for individual freedom and for society as a whole.

18-year-old sperm

A scientist says all men should freeze their sperm at age 18. The argument is that because the risk of autism and certain diseases is slightly higher later in life, doing this would provide some benefits if done consistently across an entire population. The risk to any individual is still small, and the technology is still pretty expensive and imperfect.