Abdulladiif Al-Fiqih Posted December 23, 2004 Be warned brothers about laptops and their sideeffects or even worse, briefs!! Laptops put male fertility in the hot seat By Fred Locklear The male gonads do not like heat. Sperm production is optimal at temperatures lower than normal body temperature and evolution has obliged by creating the scrotal sac to keep the testes cooler and allow for better fertility. The connection between fertility and temperature has been studied before, with some research suggesting that boxers were better than briefs in optimizing sperm production. Now that laptop computers are commonplace at home and in the workplace, researchers have been worried that hot laptop computers when used in the laptop may increase scrotal temperature and affect male fertility. After seeing there was only anecdotal "research" into laptop use and the effect on male reproductive organs, researchers devised an experiment to test these effects. They asked male volunteers to sit in a laptop-using position for an hour with or without a working computer in their laps. Researchers found the computer users had an elevated testicle temperature, but the effects are not as pronounced as many news outlets have inferred. The majority of the temperature rise was attributed to the position the subjects were sitting in compared to standing. Even without the computer present, body heat from the men's thighs raised the temperature of the scrotum by 2.1°C. With the computer present, the temperature could climb another 0.7°C. While the laptops did cause a rise in scrotal temperature, it is not know how much this affects short term/long term sperm quality and fertility and researchers plan to measure these effects in future studies. For laptop users with worries about fertility problems... I wonder if there would be market for liquid-cooled briefs? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites