After the egg has been fertilized by a sperm, the surrounding egg coat tightens, mechanically preventing the entry of additional sperm and the ensuing death of the embryo. This is according to a new ...

During fertilisation, the egg cell and the sperm are bound together by, among other things, two specific proteins. Researchers have now demonstrated that this represents a special type of binding, ...

To enable our fingernails to grow or new skin to form and heal an injury, our cells make copies of themselves — exact duplicates containing the same DNA, the combination of 46 chromosomes that makes ...

It's a commonly held belief: Sperm cells are like runners in an epic race, competing against each other for access to the coveted egg at the finish line. The egg, in turn, waits patiently for the ...

Once a sperm has broken through to an egg cell in order to fertilize it, the two cells need to hold together tightly. This occurs via a type of protein binding that is among the strongest in ...

In most living animals, egg cells are vastly larger than sperm cells. In humans, for example, a single egg is 10 million times the volume of a sperm cell. In a new study, Northwestern Engineering ...

Sperm are basically cells with a tail. It can seem surprising that they are able to navigate and swim with purpose. New research has shown that sperm are even able to switch up directions, and alter ...

Researchers at Newcastle University in England report they have coaxed the first human sperm cells from embryonic stem cells, in a remarkable demonstration of how quickly the field of stem-cell ...

An egg cell and a sperm need to hold together tightly in the Fallopian tube in order to fuse, resulting in the creation of a new organism. One key part of this process involves the proteins Juno, on ...