A few months ago, we told you about RISUG, a promising male birth control method in which a nontoxic polymer is injected into the vas deferens, sterilizing sperm. Now there’s another birth control procedure for men that’s proving its mettle in Chinese laboratories.We’ll let Popular Science explain:
The method requires researchers to inject male mice in the testes with a mixture containing nano-size rods of gold. (I feel like there’s a rap song in here somewhere.) Then they aim an infrared laser at the testes, which heats the nano-gold inside. At just the right temperature, the testes are warmed enough to kill sperm cells, but not enough to kill the cells that make new sperm. The sperm death lasts for a certain amount of time.
Are you ready to have microscopic bars of gold injected into your balls in the name of science? Not so fast. Resarchers are still testing on mice, so human trials could be a ways off.
h/t Violet Blue
