Sperm cells discovered to differentiate. Yes, sperm can do Calculus. - Polidicks

[quote][B]Sperm can do calculus![/B] The speed at which the calcium concentration in the cell changes controls the swimming behaviour of sperm. They can calculate the calcium dynamics and react accordingly. March 07, 2012 Sperm have only one aim: to find the egg. The egg supports sperm in their quest by emitting attractants that induce changes in the calcium level inside sperm. Calcium ions determine the beating pattern of the sperm tail which enables sperm to steer. Together with colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden and the University of Göttingen, scientists from the caesar research center in Bonn, an institute of the Max Planck Society, have discovered that sperm only react to changes in calcium concentration but not to the calcium concentration itself. Probably sperm make this calculation so that they remain capable of manoeuvring even in the presence of high calcium concentrations. The swimming path on which sperm follow the mating call of the egg, varies according to species. Sperm – in particular those of marine species – swim along convoluted paths in a chemical concentration gradient. Their swimming style is controlled by the calcium ions in the sperm tail. It was previously believed that at high calcium concentration, the sperm tails make asymmetrical, whip-like movements and their swimming path is very curved, while at low calcium concentration, the tail beats symmetrically and sperm swim on a straight line. The alternation of high and low calcium concentrations was thought to steer sperm along spiral-shaped swimming paths. However, this simple model was in contradiction with experiments on freely-swimming sperm and presented the investigators with something of a mystery. The scientists have now succeeded into solving this mystery. Using an ingenious stroboscopic laser illumination – similar to that used in discotheques – the project leader Luis Alvarez was able to trace the movement of sperm in detail, and simultaneously measure the changes in the calcium concentration. The result was astonishing: the sperm tail only reacted to the time derivative of the calcium concentration and the absolute concentration was of little relevance. To put it simply: sperm can perform calculus! Exactly how they do this is unclear. The caesar scientists suspect that sperm detect calcium ions with the help of two proteins. Calcium binds to one protein fast and to the other slow. By comparing the amount of calcium bound on both proteins can compute a “chemical derivative”, so to speak. But why do sperm carry out this complicated calculation that we first encounter at the upper secondary school level? The concentration of the attractants and, therefore also, the calcium concentration in sperm is very high near the egg. The mathematical trick probably enables sperm to be able to react even in the presence of such high calcium concentrations. Apart from calcium, many other intracellular messenger control cell functions. Is it therefore possible that, cells in general, also perform complex chemical calculations involving other intracellular messengers? The scientists at Bonn would like to address this important question in the future.[/quote] [url=http://www.mpg.de/5185601/sperm_can_count]Source[/url] [quote]Our male readers will be happy to learn that their sperm is even smarter than they thought. It’s been known that the egg releases chemicals that alter the concentration of calcium inside the sperm, which in turn changes how fast the sperm wag their tails. Turns out that it’s not the concentration level itself that controls the speed, but the change in the concentration. That means that sperm are calculating the first time derivative of the levels of calcium, something we thought can only be done about 16 years after conception. More about the research done at Max Planck Gesellschaft: Using an ingenious stroboscopic laser illumination – similar to that used in discotheques – the project leader Luis Alvarez was able to trace the movement of sperm in detail, and simultaneously measure the changes in the calcium concentration. The result was astonishing: the sperm tail only reacted to the time derivative of the calcium concentration and the absolute concentration was of little relevance. To put it simply: sperm can perform calculus! Exactly how they do this is unclear. The caesar scientists suspect that sperm detect calcium ions with the help of two proteins. Calcium binds to one protein fast and to the other slow. By comparing the amount of calcium bound on both proteins can compute a “chemical derivative”, so to speak. But why do sperm carry out this complicated calculation that we first encounter at the upper secondary school level? The concentration of the attractants and, therefore also, the calcium concentration in sperm is very high near the egg. The mathematical trick probably enables sperm to be able to react even in the presence of such high calcium concentrations.[/quote] [url=http://medgadget.com/2012/03/sperm-discovered-doing-basic-calculus.html]Source[/url] Newton and Leibniz would be damn proud.

My sperm is now smarter than me.

So, what's next? Sperm knows democratic values?

Oh wow. I feel inferior.

[QUOTE=VOSK;35068169]My sperm is now smarter than me.[/QUOTE] Me too! If anyone gets stuck in a maths exam just jizz on the paper!

[QUOTE='[EG] Pepper;35068235']Me too! If anyone gets stuck in a maths exam just jizz on the paper![/QUOTE] Someone in a health class I had did that, he must have been moved up to a higher class because he wasn't there anymore after.

[QUOTE='[EG] Pepper;35068235']Me too! If anyone gets stuck in a maths exam just jizz on the paper![/QUOTE] you're trying to hard. Although this was an interesting read . . .

I just feel sorry for the scientists who had to deal with several samples of semen to bring this to light.

Come to think of it, I bet the scientists arranged the sperm cells in the form of e^x and told them to differentiate and integrate, and when they didn't move, they concluded they could solve Calculus!

[QUOTE=VOSK;35068169]My sperm is now smarter than me.[/QUOTE] You were a sperm, spermy. [editline]9th March 2012[/editline] oh no horrible toughts in my head

We should make a super computer to calculate things with sperms. Quantum-Sperm Computer.

[QUOTE=IAmAnooB;35068318]We should make a super computer to calculate things with sperms. Quantum-Sperm Computer.[/QUOTE] A sperm powered computer?

Upgrade by watching porn

The human body never fails to amaze me.

Do eggs integrate, then?

Biological computers and robotics era? :tinfoil:

And to think, I've been mass-killing these little genii almost every night for the last 8 years.

Misleading title, I [i]came[/i] in expecting something related to cellular differentiation

That's not even differentiating, that's just a differentiated function.

Man, even my pre-existing self was cooler than me.

No wonder only a few reach the egg.

[QUOTE=Kendra;35068162]Sperm have only one aim: to find the egg.[/QUOTE] This isn't true at all. In fact, fertilizing sperm are the rarest type of sperm you have. Most of your sperm is spermicide or "blocking" sperm, both meant to stop other men's sperm from fertilizing the egg.

So we didn't win because we were the fastest, we won because we could do math better than the rest. [QUOTE=King Tiger;35070119]This isn't true at all. In fact, fertilizing sperm are the rarest type of sperm you have. Most of your sperm is spermicide or "blocking" sperm, both meant to stop other men's sperm from fertilizing the egg.[/QUOTE] Wow, I did not know that, that's fucking awesome.

Reminds me of that image with multiple sperm labeled with successful people like doctor and whatnot, and then the one in front is labeled 'You'.

And there the stupid fertile egg is sitting on it's ass, not moving because it is not doing math therefore it cannot move.

"Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction."

[QUOTE=borisvdb;35070894]And there the stupid fertile egg is sitting on it's ass, not moving because it is not doing math therefore it cannot move.[/QUOTE] The egg is busy doing double integrals.

if I shoot some on my homework, will they do it?

It is sad to think that having a toss allows me to create a large number of smarter organisms than myself right off the bat

Now every time I blow I can imagine hundreds of colonies of smart little sperms being dashed helplessly against my jizz rag and thrown into the garbage by a jealous and angry god (me) "What has science done??" they will cry "We were too smart for our own good, now we are doomed to die on this soft alien kleenexesque place!" and they will spend the rest of their lives in quiet devout worship before dying out and drying up, never knowing my real motivation for sending them all to their deaths. [editline]10th March 2012[/editline] brb wanking