Meditations on Spermatogenesis…
At times, embryology can make for tedious reading. A lot of X happening because of Y signal pathway and Z transcription factor, or A disease happening because B signal pathway can’t activate C transcription factor. But every once in a while the syllabus throws out these great cocktail conversation starters-witness spermatogenesis.
Did you know…
…that in his in his lifetime, a man will produce ~10^12 sperm and ~2 children. Wow, let’s think about that; a success rate of 2 / 10^12. Remember when mom said to dad that men were the most inefficient creatures in the universe? Well…turns out she was right.
…that there are 200 million sperm in one ejaculation. Yes, that’s right, before the first sick sick man came up with the idea of spamming his emails, his great great (great x 10^12) male predecessor came up with the idea of spamming his gametes.
I guess I shouldn’t malign male reproductive biology too much. I haven’t really inspected the other team. But fear not, Oogenesis is tomorrow. It’s possible that the XXs will have as much gametic folly as us XYs…well, possible, but not likely.
Comments
2 Responses to “Meditations on Spermatogenesis…”
KC
9:05 pm Oct-11-2007
This is truly transcendent…. it should be noted that, on Oct 9th, Blake removed the 1.25″-long right testicle from our male cadaver (in Anatomy) and, with IT in his surgical hands, contemplated the meaning of what all this really meant.
blakecharlton
10:05 pm Oct-11-2007
oh…must…resist…temptation to…pun…