Peer-reviewed research concerning sperm health, summarized and appraised in plain language with every source cited.
This review set out to explore how environmental factors affect sperm quality and male fertility. It analyzed 82 recent studies, mostly from 2020 onward, looking at pollutants, heat, radiation, and…
This review looked at whether the underwear a man wears, tight versus loose, actually affects his fertility. The testicles work best a little cooler than the rest of the body,…
This review looked at how psychological stress might affect male fertility through oxidative stress. It synthesized animal studies and human observational data to explore the link between stress, oxidative damage,…
This review set out to examine how microplastics (tiny plastic particles) affect the male reproductive system at the cellular and molecular level. It compiled findings from multiple studies across scientific…
This review examined how oxidative stress, sperm DNA damage, and epigenetic changes interact to affect male fertility. It pulled together studies on men with infertility, looking at how these factors…
This review gathers recent evidence on what damages male fertility and how much of it can be undone. Smoking raises sperm DNA fragmentation (breaks in the genetic material inside sperm)…
The 2025 European Association of Urology (EAU) guidelines aimed to update recommendations on diagnosing and treating male infertility, based on a structured review of new evidence. The panel assessed studies…
This review set out to examine whether mobile phones and laptops, as sources of electromagnetic radiation and heat, might harm male fertility by affecting semen quality. It analyzed existing studies,…
This review looked at how nicotine affects sperm function, focusing on its impact on key sperm nuclear proteins. It gathered evidence from studies on nicotine's role in sperm production and…
This narrative review set out to explore how lifestyle choices affect male fertility, examining diet, exercise, stress, sleep, weight, and environmental exposures. It synthesized existing research on how these factors…
This narrative review set out to explore the link between sperm DNA fragmentation (breaks in the genetic material inside sperm) and male infertility. It pooled findings from 28 studies, looking…
This review set out to explore how polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) might harm male fertility by damaging the blood-testis barrier (BTB), a protective shield in the testicles that keeps harmful substances…
This narrative review argues that a man's fertility is a readable signal of his health generally, not just of his ability to father a child. The reasoning runs like this:…
This is a narrative review, which means the authors gathered and discussed existing work rather than running a study of their own. It asks whether the damage COVID-19 does to…
This study set out to explore how sperm DNA fragmentation (breaks in the genetic material inside sperm, more breaks mean a lower chance of conception and live birth, so lower…
This review pulled together what is known about how everyday life affects a man's fertility, covering age, psychological stress, nutrition, physical activity, caffeine, scrotal temperature, hot water and mobile phone…
This is a history of forty years of French research into male contraception (hormonal, chemical and thermal) summarising clinical trials involving thousands of men and couples. Those trials established that…
This review gathers what is known about why heat harms sperm production, and how. It sets out the things that raise testicular temperature, from the surroundings a man is in…
This review looked at how heat stress on the testicles affects semen quality in men. It examined studies on factors like prolonged sitting, tight underwear, sauna use, and fever, and…
This study reviewed how the scrotum's role in keeping the testicles cooler than core body temperature affects sperm production. It looked at evidence from men with conditions like undescended testicles…
This lecture is the field's own summary of why the testicles sit outside the body and what happens when they get warm. It sets out the evidence that the testes…