Post date: Jun 19, 2013 1:3:47 PM
China ( Next Media) - Chinese biologists are experimenting with a form of male birth control that involves injecting gold into the testicles and zapping them with infrared light.
This method of contraception calls for injecting nano-sized rods of gold into the testicles, then pointing infrared light at the testicles, and by doing so, heating up the gold. At the right temperature, this would warm up the testes enough to kill off existing sperm, but not enough to kill cells that would create new ones. The procedure has only been tested in mice so far.Outside academics said that this form of male contraception would likely have some important drawbacks that researchers would have to overcome before it becomes viable in humans.
According to the abstract of the experiments, the contraception method has the potential to be a cheaper and safer alternative to those currently being used on animals and can also be used to achieve permanent infertility if desired.
SOURCES: Popular Science, University of Science and Technology of China
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-06/experimental-male-birth-control-puts-gold-your-testes
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/nl400536d