Could the act of using a laptop with WiFi enabled cause a man to lose his sperm count? That"s the hypothesis that"s suggested in study that"s been posted in the new issue of the medical journal Fertility and Sterility. Reuters reports that the study, conducted by Argentinean scientists, claims that the electromagnetic radiation generated by a WiFi signal could kill off sperm in male semen.
The report claims that the scientists from the Nascentis Medicina Reproductiva in Cordoba used semen samples from 29 men. Those samples were placed under a laptop that was connected to the Internet via a WiFi signal for four hours. The study claims that when the semen samples were examined afterward, a quarter of the sperm inside were found to be no longer swimming. Another nine percent of the sperm showed signs of DNA damage, a increase of three times compared to sperm that were not placed under the WiFi laptop.
The report"s final statement said, "Our data suggest that the use of a laptop computer wirelessly connected to the internet and positioned near the male reproductive organs may decrease human sperm quality." Not everyone agrees, however. Dr. Robert Oates, the president of the Society for Male Reproduction and Urology, says, "This is not real-life biology, this is a completely artificial setting. It is scientifically interesting, but to me it doesn"t have any human biological relevance."
Still, it"s better to be safe than sorry. So the next time you men out there use your WiFi enabled device, make sure it"s not nearby your ... well, you know.