By a Nose? Human sperm may sniff out the path to an egg
By John Travis
A man’s sperm seek out a variety of floral scents, suggesting that these microscopic swimmers possess a primitive kind of nose that enables them to navigate to a woman’s egg. This discovery could inspire new forms of contraception or improvements in in vitro fertilization, say researchers.
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It’s long been suspected that human sperm sense chemicals secreted by an egg. More than a decade ago, for example, investigators found that human sperm sport proteins called olfactory receptors, the same molecules that nerve cells in the nose use to detect smells.