Scientists investigating human sperm competition stumble upon an intriguing paradox: Men who thought their partner was more likely to spend time with other men produced ejaculates with more sperm (www.psypost.org)
from fossilesque@mander.xyz to science@mander.xyz on 16 Feb 2025 19:11
https://mander.xyz/post/25110528

#science

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bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de on 16 Feb 2025 19:24 next collapse

So, poly couples are more likely to get pregnant?

HowAbt2morrow@futurology.today on 16 Feb 2025 19:41 collapse

I think only if he felt threatened by the others. Like the jizz competition is not inherent but rather stimulated by the dudes worry of being out jizzed by his partner’s man whores.

Contramuffin@lemmy.world on 16 Feb 2025 22:26 next collapse

My quick skim seems to suggest that this is a correlative study, so the way that this title is phrased is misleading, I think. A major alternative explanation that’s completely not mentioned is that people who produce more sperm are also more likely to suspect their partners were not faithful.

For instance, perhaps baseline stress or paranoia induces sperm maturation through some sort of hormonal signaling, and it also causes people to be more suspicious of other people.

Septimaeus@infosec.pub on 17 Feb 2025 18:39 next collapse

Right. It’s an obvious control metric they ignored, since abstinence is strongly correlated with both phenomena.

It’s part of sperm bank donation protocols (to increase sperm count) for example, and couples’ therapy often treats it as a common precursor for ideations relating to infidelity.

I get that it might be difficult to reliably gather the information. But just the question “so… you guys fuckin?” could spare us all these bizarre theories.

FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 17 Feb 2025 19:55 collapse

Yep.

godfilma@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 17 Feb 2025 00:09 next collapse

That’s not paradox tho??

Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de on 17 Feb 2025 13:37 collapse

the word paradox has basically lost all meaning at this point

the paradox of the uneaten pizza :OOOOOOOO

HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com on 17 Feb 2025 03:30 next collapse

I seemed to recall something a long time ago similar to this about men who went off for long periods like truckers and military.

pappabosley@lemm.ee on 17 Feb 2025 04:32 collapse

Does this mean that if you’re trying for a baby, you should think about your wife with other people?