So I’ve heard about this “sperm allergy” before but never really knew if it was true. Believe it or not, scientists confirm that not only is it a legitimate allergy—the technical name is “seminal plasma hypersensitivity”—but it’s also really common for women. Stats say that between 20,000 and 40,000 women in the U.S. are allergic to their man’s spunk. About 30 minutes after sex, sufferers may experience hives, swollen eyes, diarrhea, and breathing problems—the same symptoms common to food allergies. What are women suffering from this allergy supposed to do? Become celibate? Subscribe to a “sperm-free” diet? Carry around an epi-pen for sexytime? Not necessarily. Doctors say, aside from using condoms, there may also be a vaccine that can help woman’s body become more tolerant. Good news, I guess? [Glamour]

I have this theory that there is a covert organization out there, run by men, that is devoted to finding scientific “evidence” that women should give blow jobs and, preferably, swallow. Their latest discovery? Human sperm may slow the aging process! That’s right, Botox addicts: According to the Telegraph, “spermidine, a compound that is found in sperm, slows aging processes and increases longevity in yeast, flies, worms and mice, as well as human blood cells, by protecting cells from damage.” Of course, what this really means is that maybe someday down the road scientists could possibly create a wonder pill that extends the human lifespan, but our boys at Asylum want women to believe that we should just start giving more head now. “In other words, science has just declared that the fountain of youth is in your pants. Adjust your seduction techniques accordingly.” Nice try, guys! [Telegraph via Asylum]

As we learned earlier today, sperm have minds of their own. If you want to get pregnant, you might want to have sex with a specimen who is on the opposite end of the attractiveness spectrum as Brad Pitt. And, according to another study, you better hope you’re attractive. When scientists conducted researched on red junglefowl, they found growing evidence that promiscuous species can mate with many females, but their chances of fertilizing a lady increased when the female was a hottie. So, when we say men think with their dicks, rather than their brains, maybe we shouldn’t be giving their members so much credit. It seems to the sperm are the smart ones. [Discovery News]

British scientists have found a way to create fully mature, functioning sperm in a lab. Researcher on the project, Professor Karim Nayernia explained, “The work is a way of investigating why some people are infertile and the reasons behind it.” And the pay off is that women or couples who’ve had fertility issues not only have more hope now, a single lady can get pregnant without the aid of a real-live-man. Some scientists are skeptical over Nayernia’s project though. Prof Azim Surani, from Cambridge University, described the lab samples as “a long way from being authentic sperm cells.” Still, kind of amazing, right? [Metro.co.uk]

In “you are nastier than sin” news, word is that some woman is selling the semen of pro athletes to (desperate) women who yearn to have a baby by a baller. Or better yet collect child support from one. It seems she’s collected the sperm of a dozen athletes and is ready to sell off her collection to the highest bidder. Continue reading...

Doesn’t it always seem that for whatever may ail a man, the antidote is always more sex? Take men with “damaged sperm,” for example. In a new study of 118 Australian men with damaged sperm — but really, what is damaged sperm? — doctors “found that having sex every day for a week significantly reduced the amount of DNA damage in their patients’ sperm” and increased their likelihood of getting a woman knocked up. Dr. David Greening of Sydney IVF, a private fertility clinic in Australia, and some other researchers found that in 81 percent of the men, there was a 12% decrease in the amount of damaged sperm. A 12% decrease hardly seems like something to hang one’s hat on, but Dr. Greening is now instructing all couples seeking fertility advice to start by having more sex. “Some of the older men look a little concerned,’’ he said. “But the younger ones seem quite happy about it.’’ Sperm quality can also be improved if men exercise, get more antioxidants, and give up their smokes and booze, but something tells me that most men concerned about the health of their sperm will opt for the “more sex” route. [via wcbs]

I love the scene in “Look Who’s Talking” where the basic rule of human reproduction plays out on screen: the fastest sperm wins the race to the egg. But in the animal kingdom at large, that is not always the case. Scientists have found an ancient species called Ostracods where the largest sperm won. Even though Ostracods were kinda snail like and less than centimeter long, the males produced sperm nearly ten times their size. I can only imagine that super sperm would make reproduction mega painful, but fear not! Evolution endowed the female sea critters with huge cavities (pictured above is an X-ray image of one cavity half filled with the massive man juices) nearly a third of their body size, to store the mammoth sperm. Well now you know: when it comes to the big O (O, meaning “Ostracod”), bigger is better. [IO9]

Size may not matter in the human world, but when it comes to other animals and insects, giant sperm is the way to go, especially if the creature has a tiny body. A mussel-like animal that lived 100 million years ago produced sperm that was longer than its body. Even today, there are animals making large sperm. A fruit fly can produce a 2.5-inch coil of sperm, even though its body is only a few milliliters. To equal the same sperm to body ratio, a human would have to produce sperm 40 meters long. Ostracodes, an extinct ancient class of arthropods, also produced long sperm. With these findings scientists have concluded that giant sperm production is a proven, evolutionary tactic for successful reproduction. Creatures can increase the chance of fertilization with a larger sperm cell. [Reuters]

At first look, these metallic earrings are rather cute. Not my style necessarily, but statement jewelry is in and there is nothing particularly off about them. At second look, I am permanently scarred and already have a call in to my therapist. I should actually be calling my gynecologist to see if these sperm and fallopian tube earrings are anatomically correct. If I am going to walk around with metallic reproductive organs on my lobes, I want to make sure they are at least realistically represented. I suppose they are unusual because no one in their right mind would think people would buy sperm earrings, but if I had remained in ignorant bliss I probably would have donned them on my next date. Good thing I have seen the light (and the contraceptive), for it would have been tres awkward if a date thought I was wearing sperm earrings to lure him in. [$70, Luna Parc]

“Get Naked,” the sex and dating column in Time Out New York reaches a new level of gross this week. After the jump, columnist Jamie Bufalino introduces the term “peegasm” and explains how it’s perfectly normal for a man to slurp his own spunk like it’s chicken noodle soup. You may want to save this post for after you’re done with your lunch.

Young love! Ah, so romantic. Like any other bride-to-be Kendra Wilkinson, Playboy model and “Girls Next Door” star, is walking on air. And when asked by People magazine how she’s keeping fit for her big day, the 23-year-old extolled the health benefits of good sex! “A lot of it,” her fiancé, Philadelphia Eagles player Hank Baskett, added.

Really, what else would you expect one of Hugh Hefner’s former “girlfriends” to say? But the girl’s got a point. A healthy sex life—from the deed itself to the messy cleanup afterwards—does a body good in all kinds of ways.

The obsession with staying youthful has led many to paralyze their faces with toxin and completely alter the face they were given. But the beauty industry offers an even more bizarre way to keep skin soft and supple. Beauty insiders are touting spermine, a powerful antioxidant found in human sperm, as the solution to diminish wrinkles and smooth skin. Bioforskning (yes, that’s the actual name), a Norwegian company, is now synthesizing the substance in laboratories and selling it. And stateside, some women are shelling out as much as $250 for a spermine facial at spas. They could keep their money and head to a college dorm, where, I’m sure, the occupants would be more than willing to give sperm facials for free. There’d probably be free beer, too. [NY Mag]

A study published in the Journal of Proteome Research found that sperm can’t fertilize an egg immediately after entering the female reproductive tract. No, sperm are fickle little guys. An activation process scientists call “capacitation” has to take place in them. Basically, the cells in the sperm have to be “turned on” for them to do their deed. So, not only do you and your man have to be in the mood to make babies, but so do his male reproductive cells. Researchers are working on figuring out what gets sperm in the mood. [Medical News Today]

OK, so we here at The Frisky can be real geeks sometimes. We eat up any new information about biology, medicine or human behavior. However, we also come across the stupidest studies that just seem to “prove” “theories” that are just basic common sense. And then we think: “Really? Someone funded this crap?” After the jump, our picks for this week’s stupidest studies.

Women are always on the hunt for a smart man. Smarter men have more money, more success and apparently more sperm. Researchers have found that smarter men produce more sperm than not-so-smart men. The logic behind this theory is that smarter men take better care of themselves and live a healthier life than the not-so-intelligent dudes (also known as the the people who eat triple bacon cheeseburgers from Wendy’s).

Space, the final frontier, is getting a new voyager and some sperm that’s outta this world! Richard Garriott, the video game visionary behind Tabula Rasa, is going to be the sixth private citizen to be sent to outer space. How’d he get so lucky? Well, he’s started a program to collect, create, and carry digital DNA and snippets of human history as a time capsule to be stored at the International Space Station. The paranoid gamer is worried androids, the apocalypse, and natural disasters could make us all extinct. His fear has inspired him to create the project, called “Operation Immortality,” to ensure a future for humanity. So who’s genetic code is he cracking? So far, brilliant comedian and well-known narcissist, Stephen Colbert, has agreed to donate, but even the average Jane can offer up her stuff too!  All you have to do is play the free trial of Tabula Rasa and your name could get selected at random to become a sample.  But if DNA seems a bit too personal, you can simply send a message to the Universe by typing a note about the 21st Century here. Mr. Garriott will be collecting information until October when his shuttle launches. So, with a month to go, we’d like to recommend a few good peeps we think the future could use…

It’s a rare man with super sperm that can impregnate a woman when the two of them are in their seventies. The late conservative Senator Strom Thurmond, fathered a child at 74, comedian Charlie Chaplin helped his wife conceive at 73, and abstract artist Picasso made a baby at 68. And all this was before Viagra! Now science has made things possible for any Tom, Dick, and Harry with in-vitro fertilization.  Thanks to IVF,  Charam Singh, who is in his mid-70’s, and his 70 year-old wife just gave birth to twins over the weekend in India.  Congratulations?! So we get why Angelina Jolie wants to spawn over and over again with Brad Pitt, but why on earth would this woman want to take a loan out to pay all the expensive medical bills, not to mention take her va-jane out of retirement?  The Panwars already had two daughters and five grandchildren together, but it wasn’t enough for them. They wanted, and finally got, a male heir to pass their family farm onto. Thanks chauvinism!  [BBC via Dlisted]

As women wait longer to have babies, complications become more common, and now a new study says that men over 35 can contribute to these pregnancy problems. In intrauterine insemination, the woman’s age was closely associated with a decreased pregnancy rate and miscarriages, according to Dr. Stephanie Belloc of the Eylau Centre for Assisted Reproduction in Paris. And when the men were over 35, there also were increased miscarriage rates, most likely due to DNA damage that comes with age. So, if you and your guy want to have babies later in life—or if you were planning on bedding George Clooney—Dr. Belloc suggests you try in vitro fertilization. [EurekAlert!]