 So it is noon now and we like to get started in the noon if you're not new to Second Life or Science Circle or whatever, welcome welcome, glad you found us. We do have the website that I just mentioned and you can see what sorts of things are going on. All kinds of activities coming up between now and end of the year and what I like to do. Everybody has their own style but I love to have stuff in chat, okay, because I know what I'm going to be speaking about and I need to have the feedback. Now the other thing is this topic, like a lot of topics I do, it tends to be out of my area of comfort so to speak and in this case I'm talking about what happens primarily in human females and since I'm not, I'm definitely, if there's any reproductive biologists or other people who know how this works, please let me know if I've got any misconceptions or errors or whatever. It's a very complicated, well that too except I'm only doing the up to where the embryo is implanted in the uterus. So it doesn't involve kids yet unless, depending on your definition of kids, okay, you're basically talking about something the size of a grain of sand at the end, but then it would be a whole series of topics about kids if we're going that far. Okay, well it's a couple minutes in so let me get started and like I said I'd love to, well I do too but I take a look at it and we are recording, okay, so let's see. Okay, so let me get started on that. Notice, this is a topic we haven't, I don't think we've had a presentation on this topic, but I noticed back in the spring there were several articles out that said, hey we just found out a bit more about how human reproduction works and you might be surprised. And so I thought, well that's interesting, I wonder when the last time I studied it and what kind of misconceptions I had, so the deeper I got into it the more fascinating it got, but also the more complicated. So trying to sum it up all within an hour, oh lots and lots of misconceptions. And that's not a pun, okay, so yeah, I know, okay, I'm catching that, yeah okay, so anyway now this is a caveat and this for anyone who's squeamish about whatever topic is that this is a direct talk about human reproduction from after the male gamete has been introduced until basically the possibility of an embryo implanting in the inner lining of the uterus. Okay, so the presentation details the, it's kind of an amazing process and yeah, that one, male gamete, you know, there's all kinds of different things that they're called, I'm just saying male gamete, okay. So it's an amazing process and I'm basically going to talk about it, the organ and cellular molecular level and there's no photos of human anatomy or anything else because frankly we know that part, okay, it's the, what goes on inside that is the part that a lot of people don't know. And yeah, I'm going to use accurate and like, you know, male gamete versus sperm versus whatever common names in here and I was going to give you an entire metaphor for maternity hospital but frankly, I ran out of time and I can explain what it was I was getting at but I think you'll be interested nonetheless, okay. So first let's take a look at cultural barriers. The reason why we may not all know all of this ourselves. It's basically forbidden knowledge is essentially, by the way, these slides, I usually don't apologize for anything, but slides are very dense as far as both pictures and text. So I'm going to talk about it and that should give you plenty of information. You don't have to go reading a mile a minute trying to get everything. But the idea is the first thing is for cultural barriers is that there's a wide range of attitudes about knowing anything about reproduction and frankly in some cultures today and in the past essentially it was like, okay, your parents are going to tell you the basics just before you get married. And then young men sometimes learn by experience with an older woman. And so but that has nothing to do with the reproductive process or well, very little to do with reproductive process is basically mechanics. Okay. And other than that, it was like, well, I guess it's going to be a surprise in this in the U.S. sex ed is kind of like treated like his driver's ed and if you happen to be in the U.S. they were referred to it's essentially a wide range of practice ranging from nothing at all. Yeah, stick to your own lane ranging from nothing at all to a lot of misconceptions and there's little about like, you know, how it actually is working and more about the social aspects like don't do that, you know, including cautions. I remember including cautions about the worst possible scenarios and stuff from authority figures. So most of the knowledge, of course, has to come from somewhere. So it's brands, movies, experimentation. And so it's not surprising that in places where sex ed is the least. In other words, there's no sex ed that you have the highest teen pregnancy rates. And in some places, the least prenatal care and all that stuff like that. So it contrasts that to some of the countries in Northern Europe, where our children start learning at a very young age, it's mandatory. They learn the correct knowledge and with mature attitudes that basically lead to more positive first experiences, less disease, teen pregnancy, greater gender equality, the whole bit. So that's the first thing that we approach is we don't know about this stuff because we're not top and a lot of people don't check it out. There's also a wide range of bias and I got a little song giddy up there. I don't know if you remember it, it's actually not, it's one of my least favorite songs because it basically says, hi, I'm ignorant, but let's get together anyway. But it's the one that goes, don't know much about history, don't know much about biology, et cetera, et cetera, and I'm not a singer. But also I remember when I was in, yeah, I know, I'd have to practice. So basically when I was in school, I remember seeing this video and it was about, it started out like when a man and woman really love each other, and then it became a very male-centric anthropomorphized perspective. And I've got the, I've got, if you're interested in seeing the video that I found, it's right here because I was absolutely guessed to find that when I, in other words, when I did sex ed class, they showed these white hordes of sperm racing through these big caverns to attack a porous of egg. And that was like, okay, that's sex ed, okay, great, okay, but that's not. And then there, and then of course it's compounded by popular things like, there was a book which I still find, I still have on the shelf, which I found out basically was worth about $500 now. But it's everything you always wanted to know about sex, but we're afraid to ask. And by Dr. David Rubin in 69, and then of course there was a common, I'm dating myself, but there was a Woody Allen, yeah, about the same one. And if you're interested in that, now, I caution you that some of the material in there may be not quite politically correct or whatever, but if you want to see it, you can see it. It's basically with the sperm being paratrooper or parachuters in an airplane. And so anyway, and then there were some pretty good books as one called Our Bodies, Our Sells, and other informative books that came out later. Okay, so what I'm basically saying is there's biases towards the male part. There's also misinformation. And then of course a wide range of barriers. Now you'll notice the quote there by the author of the book. Everything you always want to know about sex, but we're afraid to ask. And in 1960-90 basically said, most of us are more about the moon 238 million miles away than we do what happened six inches below our navels. And then in 2021, I found a good source for talking about the different stages of development of embryo. And it's in 2021, but they had a similar message. A little more scholarly basically said, the molecular mechanisms underlying human embryogenesis remain largely unknown due to technical difficulties and ethical issues. And so you still got the case where we don't know everything because of the taboo subjects, so to speak. Okay, now the problem with that is it's not just that we don't learn. It's that we get a cultural bias where women are basically passive vessels. Now let me explain that. There were a couple of people at the moon base meeting on Monday and I said I will explain that during the presentation. And part of it is this bias education that basically goes. And so I want you, and this is from the video that I just gave you the link to it. Not the one, the other one. And these are little captures from there and basically says, okay, so find out how many misconceptions you spot in this video. And so it starts out kind of like the journey of life starts with a fascinating race, and then they show this white hoard in some large cavern or whatever with a blue tunnel at the end. Well, now that's Sissogy, I want you to, that's what I'm trying to say that's not true. Okay, and then there's the idea, only one. The fastest and strongest will reach the finish line. Some fall out of the race, getting lost in the globian tubes. Some are stopped by natural obstacles that protect against intruders. Now I have no idea what that big blue amphitheater is there, but this is the part of the video. And then it goes, for those who make it towards the end, they compete fiercely. Well, yeah, we'll get into that. Hang on a second, what I'm doing is I'm just going, this is the video. And it's not that much different from the one I saw in the 60s. But I found it online the other day and it was like, ah, yeah. So anyway, so we'll address the misconceptions in a second. But those who make it toward the end, compete fiercely. And in the video, there's this one that isn't just like trying to attack the egg, but it's like, ah, I know the way suckers and it's going towards some other area there. And then it gets in and it blows this white cloud into the egg. And it says, finally, we have a winner. And it's like, what? Yeah, verbally insensitive. Okay, I have to see how much of what we're doing is sharing Joe's information. Okay, so then it goes half the man's and half the woman's chromosomes combined. Thought bubbles. Ultimate. Well, okay, now, Mike, you just hit it on the head, so to speak, is it's the anthropomorphism that really got to me is if this is some sort of male race and a game where for the female, it's life and death. And also it's more than just the male contribution. Okay, so the first cell of the new baby, now called the zygote, then the cells divide and begin to travel to the safe and friendly habitat of the uterus. And there's a bubble of cells called a blastocyst. It's formed in the inner cells, make up the embryo, and other cells make up to nourish it. And then the blastocysts then finds what obstacles. We've got to define what the obstacles are. It's not like you have a race where you're going to trip over a steeple chase type race or stuff. Well, and soon though, you know, that's exactly right. In other words, where's the woman in all this? This is, that's what. So in any case, the final one was the blastocyst then finds a comfortable place to rest for 40 weeks. And it's like, what? And so here's a few of the misconceptions and questions, like I got tenure. Yeah, okay. So anyway, here's a few of the misconceptions and questions I had. So let's go ahead and take a look at what really has happened. Yeah, I'm going to stop working. Plus, how the heck did they know where to find the egg? Males never ask for directions. Okay, so in addition, there are, in it, well it is. And I have a reason for that that I'm going to propose. Okay, so there's also bias laws. And the, and part of it is the woman is, you know, is in the laws themselves because people don't know how it works. Perhaps you've got the woman as a mere vessel for the man's seed. In fact, sperm actually means seed. And there's a reason for that. Now you don't have to read all this, but basically in the US and stuff like that, there were a number of laws that basically were created with the impression that the woman's simply a mere vessel to the man's seed. And that that takes precedence over the woman's life, et cetera. Well, Cesar G, yes, okay, well, okay, but hang on a second because there's a lot of stuff that's wrong, not just a few things. Okay, so now what I'd like to convince you is that women are the engineers of life and basically they control the entire process from absolute beginning to end. And that basically the male contribution at its very longest is simply halftime or halftime entertainment, depending on how you want to look at it. Well, now you're right. And we'll get to the legend heartbeat here in a minute. But you've got to get to where it's six weeks in and we're not even six seconds in. Okay, so let's take a look at it. So let's take a look at some important questions. Well, and you're right, Sumo, absolutely correct. And we'll get to that here in a second once we get to the actual in the uterus part. But I'm glad you're bringing it up in chat as well. Well, you're right. There you go. Boom, boom, boom. Heart cells. And plus, recall that what you're talking about is something the grain, a size of a grain of sand, it's not exactly a heart. And it's less than the grain of sand because that talks about the entire thing. So okay, so let's take a look at some important questions. What are my duties as the presenters to make sure that I present the material in an hour or so? And of course, to address all the questions and comments and stuff and have a good time and get an educational message out there. So let's talk about some important questions. When did reproduction become thought of as a male controlled event in process? In other words, okay, here's all the sperm racing to attack a poor defenseless egg. And that's, you know, reproduction. Well, I propose that 200, well, over 200, several hundred years ago, 1600s, 1700s, and stuff that there was a theory called pre-formationism that basically said that humans and plants and whatever, humans and plants and whatever, can't create life because life has already been created. In other words, what's in Genesis? Okay, so the idea was that the sperm, there were even little pictures of it, that the sperm had a tiny human in it. If you look closely there, it's got legs and arms and that's the head. And I don't know what that is in the middle, except that could be the, you know, the place on the top of the baby's head or something like that. But basically, so that the pre-formationism said that the male plants the seed that's already a tiny human into the female, what's called an animicule. And so the female becomes simply a garden that she needs to tend to the male seed until it becomes a human. And then of course, you know, 20, 30, 40 years after. So anyway, so what is the purpose of a woman in this process? Is it a passive vessel with no rights? Or is it the engineer of life itself? And so the other thing is that in the monthly cycle, even the entire, the monthly cycle was known for thousands of years. And the book of Leviticus, for example, it basically says to people who didn't know about, you know, the biology basically says, okay, after menstruation, the woman is unpleen for seven days. And then you can go back to it. But essentially what that is is halfway into the monthly cycle, which is the optimal day for getting pregnant. And so they, well, no, Henry VIII didn't know, you know, he was doing his thing, which actually he probably wasn't, if you look at the history thing, because he had syphilis and he was hugely, well, whatever, blah, blah, we can go into Henry VIII. But, you know, this topic has a lot of things. And then, okay, if reproduction is viewed as some kind of male game, then why are we depicting halftime instead of the entire process? So let's take a look. Well, no, no, there are some males that we really should talk about here, but just I'm limited to an hour. Okay, so let's take a look at the parts. Whenever I look at uterus, it goes, the uterus is about the size of a small pair. And I'm going, oh, well, actually, that's kind of interesting. And so I was remembering my biology and I was going, okay, actually, that's about right. In other words, if there's nothing that's being grown or nothing intruding into the process, you've got a basically a pair-sized uterus, much smaller in premature females and also post-older females. But those are the, that's what you have there. But if you look at it with the pair, it's very interesting. You've got basically the pears and ovary. It's got eggs in the middle area called an ovular, which is basically the female gamma. And then for the male, the anther, the pollen, is entered up there from the top, which is not too unlike in female, except that in mammals, all of this takes place in sun. And so the stem there that's connected to the plant, I mean, you can only take the analogy so far, but it's kind of interesting in the diagram where the difference, in other words, the similarities between a pair and in other words, reproduction in a plant or in this case with the fruit and in human reproduction. In other words, there's some similarity, some differences. Well, yes, I'm trying to, in this case, there's really good stuff coming in on comments. And, and so I understand the social thing and I'm not diminishing the idea of male and female bonding or anything else like that. The Germans were, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Sumo, Sumo, did you read the article? See what I, there was an article recently and I can find it if I can have a little time at the end. But look up the one that basically says that the woman, this was in, this is what kind of got me started. They found that the woman actually determines which sperm gets to fertilize. Okay, now I'm not talking only about that it should be invitation only. Okay, as to what, yeah, absolutely. That's why I'm saying that's, okay, that says his point, absolutely. In other words, first of all, it should be invitation only as to what sperm gets into the first place. But the other thing is that right up to the point where the sperm's at the egg, it's the woman that's choosing which one is going to fertilize. And that's a fairly new thing that they found. But I thought, I think I read, I was reading about that and I was going, whole account. This is much more interesting than I had learned in the past. That's up to you. Okay, but that's up to you. That's something beyond what I want to talk about. Okay, so anyway, now by the way, at males in particular, notice that the size of the parts over there do not require drilling for oil. In other words, or anything else. So you're talking about a fairly small system here that until things get going. So what is the purpose? I'm watching my turn. The purpose of this whole thing is to complete meiosis. Now, let's, real refresher, don't we, I mean, unless you're a speed reader, don't read any of that stuff. But the idea is to, is in meiosis, you are, want to, it enables genetic diversity and then repairs of the genetic materials, DNA and stuff like that. So in meiosis, you've got this process where there's a crossover of some DNA, and you end up with gamete cells. So that can be both in the male and in the female. But essentially, now you've got instead of the parent just making a clone, you've got a mix match of some DNA that creates a new being. Now the interesting part is, is that in the egg, in the female, is that this process kind of just stops or suspended until if and when there is a male gamete that joins, and then meiosis then is completed. So essentially, now I read that it's made of phase two in meiosis two part, or metaphase in meiosis two. And I'm going to have to go back and check that out here again. This is a very complicated subject, and I was reading through it trying to understand everything. But the idea is that in meiosis, you're ending up with gametes, which have a full set, not half of the males or half of the females, but a full set of 23 chromosomes, a haploid cell that's looking to complete meiosis. When it completes meiosis, in other words, when the two gametes meet, then you have a pair of 46 chromosomes. In other words, paired up 23 different types of chromosomes. And now it's able to, just like any other cell, to do mitosis, in other words, to grow and regenerate and such. So that's the difference between those two. Okay, let's continue on. So there's some important facts here, is that one is the, you may not know this because this is brand-new two, but both gametes can be produced artificially. So let me repeat that, and I'll show you the article. They both can be produced artificially and then combined to create an embryo. Now the female's reproductive system, particularly the uterine system, but also the entire system, it controls the process from beginning to end. And there is, well, that depends on whether it's fun. Like I said, if it's invitational, it's fun. If it's not, then you run into those laws that say, no matter where this sperm came from, you still have to raise the kid. It's kind of my implication there. So a male, if you look up, what is a male, what you're going to find is a male, whether it's a flower with antherin and pollen. A male is the individual that provides motile, mobile gametes. But it's the female, of course, that then creates, the other gamete grows, the embryo develops, the fetus, et cetera. So as engineers of life, they control the whole thing, and the male contribution, like I said, is only part of it or half time. Now, so key concepts here are that, okay, so key concepts are that there are hormones in the system and the brain, which control the whole monthly cycle by chemical signals. And I'll go over that here. The other thing is that, and this may come as a shock to guys, but the sperm have absolutely zero chance of fertilizing an egg unless the woman does a series of chemical reactions with the sperm in order to get it moving, in order to get it to the floppy tubes, in order to find the egg, all of that. It's called capacitation and thermo and chemotaxis. And some of that is pretty new too, as far as what they found. And then, of course, in the developmental cycle, there's about 23 different stages just in the embryogenesis called the Carnegie stages. Okay. Yeah, this gets a little, and I know this gets a little deep, but then I was a biochamist or, you know, once a biochamist always a biochamist. And I like the detail myself. Okay, so I'll try to also not keep it too deep. Well, life, death, chemotaxis, you're funny, sis. Okay. So in the monthly reproductive hormone cycle, you've got a lot of stuff going on, lots of hormones. Now, ladies, pay attention to the one on the right, which you probably already know personally, if you've ever, well, you probably know personally. Because what happens is it's not only a bunch of hormones racing through your body, but those lines on the other side are amino acids and all kinds of other chemicals. The hormones are only a tiny little part of the bottom. And these are all enormous lipids and vitamins and stuff. In other words, it's not, your system goes wacko during the monthly cycle. And because there's so much going on, it's not just a small, pear-shaped area down between your navel and your legs. Okay. So basically there are also, okay, there's, you could feel that other things are going on, okay, from both emotions and biochemically and everything else. And guys don't get to experience that. So there are also other cycles going on. There's this hormone cycle, which basically the brain is the conductor of this orchestrated effort. And then there's the ovarian cycle, which actually is independent of the monthly cycle, but an egg can be triggered by the brain to enter into this. And then there's the uterine cycle. So there's all these cycles that are going on in the women's reproductive system. So let's talk a tiny bit about what's called capacitation thermotaxis and chemotaxis. Is the thing to know is that sperm are not much of cells. Over a 10 hour period from the time they entered the uterus, which by the way, there's only about 1% that get up there. Well, absolutely, they need to be properly coordinated. And that was what I found is so fascinating about this, properly synchronized. And it all has to do with hormone communications. In other words, the brain releases hormones that go into the blood system that are picked up by the ovaries and then the ovaries release hormones that are picked up by the uterus and the zygote release hormones and the egg is releasing hormones or hormones and chemicals to the spermatizoa. And it's like, whoa, this is really cool. Well, and sumo, you also hit it on the head is about when you mess with the chemo part and then also what can go wrong. There's lots and lots of, this is a very complicated type of subject. Okay, so for the sperm itself, you've basically got one of the smaller cells in the body. And if you look at the diagram there over the bottom left, essentially, there's a little head. There's a part in front of the head, which is called the acrosome. The acrosome has enzymes that it has enzymes that will break down the protective layers outside the egg so that the sperm can enter. And then it's got a mitochondria behind it and a little tail like, you know, any other little, I'm trying to think of, you know, any other little bacteriozoa type of thing is the mitochondria then is the one that produces the energy for the tail, et cetera, et cetera. Okay. And then the egg itself, I know it's a tiny little diagram there, but take a look at it. It basically you've got the nucleus and then you've got, it's surrounded by something called the zona pellicida, pellicida. And then around the outside, there's this corona of cells called the corona radiata. And there's a little chemistry there and stuff like that. And essentially what happens is over 10 hours, the female has to stimulate the sperm tail. In other words, it becomes from a sperm to a spermatozoa. The sperm itself is passively aspirated into the uterus. So there's only 1% that ever even get in. And then it guides it with a thermal gradient. By the way, they know that thermal gradients, bacteria fall thermal gradients, but they didn't know about that in humans inside the last 20 years. And so the difference in the, in the woman's temperature that goes up actually helps form that gradient. So the little sperm guys have no idea where the floppy tubes are or even if there are floppy tubes or where the egg is. So they're basically following the heat source after the floppy tubes. And then the egg releases some chemicals in order to go, hey, sperm, I'm over here. Otherwise the, you know, the, the probability of a tiny little cell reaching the egg centimeters away is, is near zip. Okay. The other thing that happens is basically that it, that it has to prepare that sperm to even be able to move and then to get into the egg. So it's very, very fascinating. So it's not like, you know, macho cells racing up to the egg and then penetrating. It just doesn't work that way. Okay. There was also some stages here and I'm only covering the first few stages in the first days up to like day seven, day eight of this whole thing. And then you're not talking, this is not, so I'm not, not even covering anywhere near where it's a fetus. Essentially it's the size of a period by the time I'm covering on this presentation. But you've got fertilization, you've got meiosis complete and then cellular cleavage or division into what's called a moriola and then et cetera, et cetera. So I'll talk about that part here. Okay, but let's go back and correct some of the misinformation. In other words, yes, yes. Okay, that's a good statement. Okay. So let's go back and correct some of the misinformation. First of all, the hormone cycle. The, you might have heard said that the brain is the most important sex organ. Okay. So the monthly cycle is orchestrated by essentially what happens is the hypothalamus, which is deep in the brain there. Now you'll notice that the most important parts about the brain are really deep in the, well, I'm going to get to that, it's one of the last slides here, I'm watching my time, is that in the monthly cycle, the hypothalamus is, but I'm glad you guys are, I'm glad you guys are pointing this stuff out so that I make sure I don't forget something. But basically in the middle of the brain there, you've got some things which are really, really important. The thalamus, for example, is the one that handles motor and sensory. I'm not even going to touch that. Okay, control, whereas the hypothalamus is the one that controls appetite, sex drive, heart rate, body tension, growth, behaviors. Well, in the reproductive thing, what it does is it puts out, at the beginning of the cycle, it puts out what's called gonadotrophin releasing hormone. And that signals the pituitary, which actually is the little hormone maker there, to release what's called follicle stimulating hormone and luteinized hormone. And then at the end of the cycle, I was wondering, well, okay, if it's a cycle, how does it get back to the beginning of the cycle? Well, at the end of the cycle, basically the follicle stimulating hormone tails off and then the hypothalamus detects this and the blood system and then releases more of that gonadotrophin releasing hormone, which then starts the whole process over again. Really fascinating. I think they're biochemists. Okay, so let's go to like part one. I've got kind of part three of the ovarian cycle. Remember that the ovaries do their own thing and they are not in the monthly cycle. It takes a while to raise an egg. And then they get stimulated by some hormones at the beginning of the cycle. It's actually there's these little O sites, which are immature eggs, and then they're created in the meiosis process. And then on about day seven, in other words, at the end of menses starting, which I have no idea why they started the cycle, in other words, day-wise from menses to me. That's the end of the cycle. That's not the beginning, but whatever, maybe it's just because it's more obvious, is that follicles then are, the follicles is about 15 to 20, 15 to 20 every month that starts to mature. And basically then the follicles stop growing except for one. And to me, it's kind of like anybody watch Wonder Woman and you have the Amazons, and there's no males in there in the process. And they have a contest to see who, that sort of thing. So to me, it's like, okay, all these follicles are doing their thing. And then there's this dominant follicle that basically says, okay, you're the one that's got the egg, go for it, and it grows. And then, but the follicles are not done. And then the ovum erupts from the follicle at a particular time. And then, but the follicles are not done yet. In other words, they've been nurturing these eggs for a long time. So part two, I'll get to that in a second where they keep the uterus prepared and become what's called a corpus luteum to keep it prepared. Okay, so here again, here's a picture of little follicles and the little eggs inside. And the hormones that are produced by the pituitary then signal the follicles to develop in the first place. And then they get this, what they do is they produce hormones estradiol and inhibin, which then go back to the hypothalamus pituitary and inhibit further follicle growth. So you only have about 15 or 20 of these guys every cycle, every month or so. But you know, it actually ranges, and I'll show you there. The luteum part of it, the first part, which is about 14 days, is pretty regular, but it's the end part that it can be anywhere from like 10 to 16 days. That's why women have different, their period cycles can vary. And so anyway, it's the part with the uterus part that can vary. Okay, so anyway, so you don't get, so basically inhibits follicle growth, so you don't get too many of these. I mean, the chemistry behind this is just mind-boggling and fun. So what happens then is the mature ovum gets big enough and then erupts from the follicle. Actually, it erupts into the abdominal cavity and it's like, oh no, but what actually happens is the follicle then sends a chemical over to the fallopian tube and goes, hey, come closer. And there's these little fingers at the end of the fallopian tube. And then the ovum has these little sticky cells on it and it kind of swipes over it and picks up the ovum and then sucks it into the fallopian tube. It's, like I said, it's really very fascinating to look at how the whole mechanism works. And then inside there, the ovum is guided along it by these ways of cilia. It doesn't have a tail or anything. It's the biggest cell in our body. And you can actually, it's, and you can see it. It's like just the size of a small period on a, and that's not a, no, mind, okay. So anyway, on typing. Okay. So the ovum is guided along the tube by these cilia and then muscle contractions in it. It's going to take about four or five days for it to get to the uterus. If it's not fertilized, which of course is most of the time because women can't have a baby every month is that it then lives only by the day and then disintegrates into the fallopian tube and gets recycled there. Okay. So it's not a race. The sperm are helped along the entire way. There are no caverns. The walls are all touching each other. It's mostly, you know, thin mucus inside. And so, and the other thing is, is, is that if you're talking about the racially, I was going to make this as a hospital. And so the, if you can imagine this perma in this waiting room and it's five, they're in there, but they're going to, must have died in a day. It doesn't, you know, it takes like three to six days by the end of the sixth day. There's very few of them sitting in the waiting room. And then the cervix acts as a closed door, a locked door for all but one day of the entire month. There's no blue tunnel there in the back. It basically acts, you know, the only time, what happens is around day four, on day 12, it says the estrogen, well, exactly. But you know, okay. So the day 12 estrogen surge is an estrogen surge, which then signals the cervix to produce a acidic jelly, which is thinner than the thick mucus that is protecting the cervix against intruders, both diseases and otherwise, that helps the sperm to enter the uterus. Okay. So the sperm only in three to six days, most of them died the first day. So fertilization can only take place. This is why I call it half time. The sperm can only fertilize the egg because the egg is only going to live 12 to 24 hours. So in other words, they got to get up there with the help of the female. And they can live up to, say, you know, five days before. In other words, fertilization can take place between five days before and a day after, which is about 20% of the month, which by the way, for you guys half time, if you look at a football or a soccer game, you've got the quarters, 15 minutes each, an hour plus the half time. So it adds up to about 20%. Well, now Super Bowl, 20 as you mentioned, Natalie, because Super Bowl, half time less, 30 minutes, not 12 to 15 minutes. And the reason for that, of course, is money. Okay. So that's a little different. Okay. Now here's the one. Yeah, the show. Okay. Or half time entertainment or whatever you want to call it. Okay. So now this is amazing is that this is from BBC. You can look at it yourself. I've got the, let me look for the there. Here is the link. What this company has done, now think of this. Okay. I'm going to stop and go, okay. Think of what I'm saying is what this company has been able to do is to create the starting material from stem cells. They've already done it in a mouse. In other words, they've done this, put it in a mouse female. There's nothing, like I said, uterus and stuff cannot be, and all of the brain and stuff can't be reproduced or artificially. But you can produce some of these cells. And so they've got the epiglass, hyperblast, messenger and trope of glass, all these cells, you basically stick it in a shaker or whatever, shake it up, and it outforms something that looks like an embryo. They're not saying it's an embryo, but they have done this for a mouse. They took stem cells out of its tail and created a embryo, stuck it into a female mouse, out came perfectly healthy little baby mice. Okay. Now, like I said, I'm stopping here just for a second to tell you the significance of it. That means that same-sex couples, people that are infertile, can take stem cells from themselves and create babies from, yeah, it is cool, from their own DNA. In other words, you study the surrogate somewhere, but the idea is that anyone can create a baby if they want. Okay. So now, yeah, and then the source of the stem cells, in other words, well, not necessarily, because you could, what you do is you create essentially two gametes. You could take stem cells from a male or stem cells from two females if you want. And then stick them together or two males, stick them together, and you end up with the same thing, a zygote essentially. No, but what they're saying is that, and you'll have to read the article, but basically what they're saying is that they are creating gametes. In other words, haploid cells that then when you stick them together, you end up with a diploid cell, a zygote, that then becomes an actual embryo, et cetera, et cetera. And so, you know, not from one source. In other words, you can have a couple, but the couple can be same sex, you know, whatever. You can, in fact, I don't know if you could do it. You could have a baby from your own DNA, except that then the DNA wouldn't be mismatched. But you'll have to see, you know, how far they are able to go on this thing. Well, it would be a clone if it were strictly you. Okay. Okay. So anyway, in continuing on, essentially that, like I said, the sperm are kind of small, helpless cells, they have to be capacitated over 10 hours. And then you've got both the thermotaxis, in other words, the thermal gradient, going, okay, go toward the light source, and then, or heat source, and then the chemotaxis. And I've talked about how that works. Now, what also happens at the egg is that, and some of those are just quotes from the video, but at the egg, what happens is that it actually takes several, it's not like one sperm is the only thing needed. It actually takes several sperms attached to this outer crown irradiated to trigger what's called a cortical reaction that runs on a calcium gradient. I mean, you can get really detailed on this. But it basically makes the inner part that surrounds the nucleus, the female nucleus, the egg part, impermeable to other spermatizitis. So you don't have what's called polyspermia. Spermia, in other words, you got one. But what actually happens, if you look at the, supposedly the head of the sperm, the first thing that happens is the sperm gets decapitated. In other words, it doesn't need the tail anymore. And then all it needs is the nucleus, not whatever it's injecting into the female there. It needs the male nucleus. And then the, there you go. And by the way, you can actually, I raise chickens and I look at eggs and you can actually see the little parts inside the egg where some of this stuff has taken place. Because essentially you're looking at the yolk sac and the part that's surrounded and stuff, but whatever. So you have the, let me go on to the next one. I'm watching my time. Is essentially what you have is you've got the male and female cells that meet inside the egg and you've got the nuclei. And then the nuclei come together and then complete the meiosis process. And they actually, by the way, for people that know how the thing works, where they line up, the lineup part, actually the axis is toward where the sperm came in. And then it all happens. So you look at the one to the left there, you've got, the one on the right basically has the 23 pairs of 46 chromosomes. But then the egg nuclei, the bigger one over on the left there, combine and complete the meiosis so that you have a zygote. In other words, the first thing. Now what you call a baby is up to you as far as, you know, religiously, etc. like that, but you're talking about a single cell at this point. Okay, so the egg continues to travel down the fallopian tube. It doesn't stop and then have entertainment and then coming down. It's going down the fallopian tube. It's in an area earlier that's the wider area of the fallopian tube where it normally gets fertilized. And so it only lives for a short period of time. And so day one essentially after fertilization, you've got the single cell, which is now a diploid cell with all, with pairs of chromosomes. That then divides into two cells. A two, it divides into four cells. Now each of these little cells is called a blastomeric and it's important to realize that they're not free to roam here. They are contained in our impermeable, fairly hard thing called a zona, a polysida. And so the cells actually then they can't expand. They compact. So the cells become, the membranes around the nuclei of the cell actually dissolve and the whole thing starts, you know, in other words, it's the nuclei that are doing the cleaving, the dividing. And so you've got essentially four cells on day two, eight cells, and they're all smaller and smaller and smaller. And then day four, you've got 16 cells. And then by the time you have 16 or 32 cells, and they're all compacted in this little shell, it's called a moriola. Now moriola is a name for like raspberry, okay, because that's kind of what it would look like if you looked at it. So now the uterus has been preparing for an egg, regardless of not, of whether it gets a fertilized egg, because it's not going to see a fertilized egg, because it, I mean a unfertilized egg, because it will result into the, well into, but the uterus, particularly the wall, the endometrium, has been preparing this whole time, just in case. And it does it every month. And then if it doesn't happen, of course, then the uterine wall dies and sloughs off, and the whole cycle starts over again. So it's, by the way, it's not a particularly safe environment, and I'll explain that here in a minute. So the cells in that little moriola up on the left there, it isn't automatically a blastocyst. Okay, the cells in the middle will become the embryo. The outer cells then, what the outer cells do is create a cavity. It's actually a cyst. And they do it through a sodium ion gradient, and it draws liquid in there and creates this cyst. So it becomes a blastocyst when it's about 50 to 150 cells, and it's got this harder outer case. Well, you get enzymes from the ovaries that have been helping the uterus to prepare. And then now you get this, by the time they got a whole bunch of cells in there, the little outer shell that yellow thing up on the top right can't hold it anymore, and you get a hatching or rupturing from that shell so that the blastocyst then is now free inside the uterus. But there's more chemical reactions and stuff, and it doesn't just sit inside and rest in the uterus for 40 weeks, it tunnels in. Essentially, there's, you could see the diagram in the middle. Well, what happens is you've got that cyst part, the white part, which is fluid, and then you've got what will become the fetus in that little green and yellow area there, that's over on one side, which you orient towards the urine wall. And then the middle there will become the amniotic cavity, interestingly enough, and then you've got, and so what it does is it has to do all this stuff until the placentis form later on. So it's helping the little egg to get its nutrients which it gets from the uterus and to continue to grow. Now, so let's go back to, and I'm watching the time, I will go over a little bit, but not much because we're down toward slide, let's see what slide are we on, a 38 out of, I only have like five, six left, okay? So the ovaries don't just kind of like go, okay, we've done our job, let's go watch TV. It's essentially, so the ruptured follicle, the one that created the ovum in the first place, then becomes what's called a corpus luteum. Now that actually plays an enormous part in keeping things going because what would happen if the egg were not fertilized? Well, there'd be signals back to, there'd be signals to the uterus that goes, okay, well we're done, go ahead and let's prepare for the next cycle and the lining would slough off and that's not good if you've got a embryo in there. So at the beginning of the month, essentially the ovaries then release estrogen into the bloodstream which then thickens the uterus lining called the endometrium and then the embryo sends the embryo itself once it's fertilized which bear in mind that's not every cycle obviously, sends a signal to the ovary going, hey, keep that corpus luteum alive because that's what's sending something called progesterone that keeps the embryo, it gives the embryo what it needs and then helps to keep the uterus from going into its mensae cycle. I mean, it's very fascinating here that they signal each other and go, okay, this is what's going on. So the diagram on the left is what the company says, well, has demonstrated with mice anyway that they can do. Is they put all these cells together, rattle around, it becomes what looks like that thing in day is where there's cellular depth differentiation and you've got those hyperbias, epiblas, et cetera, tropoblas. It looks similar to that there. And then, but then from there, it's got to be put back into the uterus and then it starts differentiating into a full-blown embryo that becomes a fetus at eight weeks, if all that makes sense. Okay, let me keep going here. Okay, there's what's happening between day six and day 23. Now bear in mind that even on day 23, you're talking about something the size of two to three millimeters. So something the size of whatever two or three millimeters is. I had an example of that, but essentially that's what's happening. It erupts from the zone, the zone of greatest, yeah, greatest sand. Well, even the slightly bigger than the greatest sand, but not much, it's still not very big, even in 23 days. Okay, and so essentially this is the process there where it differentiates and then becomes a full-blown thing where you've got the umbilical cord and you've got the yolk sac, which a lot of people will say that that's not a yolk sac. You know, we're not chicken, but try to convince me otherwise because it needs nourishment until it's got a full-blown placenta started. Okay, so my final remarks then is that what could go wrong? Okay, well, lots can go wrong, but the whole process takes its toll. In other words, for human females, at about 20 weeks, in other words, I just showed it up to about, what, 23 days? What, two weeks? By 20 weeks, a human female will have seven million eggs. By the time they're born, they're down to two million. By the time they're able to have kids, it's down to 300,000. And then they lose about 1,000 eggs a month. By age 30, they're down to 36,000. Now, if you actually add that up, in other words, how many months are there between 30 and say 50 or 60 or 50 something, that's plenty. Now, there's even if they lose 1,000 a month, that's plenty. And then by age 40, you have about 3% of what you originally had. Okay, and then only 20 or 30% of the fertilized eggs reach the blastocyst stage. So you don't even know that your eggs are fertilized because you've only got a tiny little thing you're floating to. And then up to a quarter of pregnancies in natural miscarriage because something is not right. Okay, in guys, it also takes a toll. And so there aren't a limited number of eggs. But if you look at that diagram there, and I'll be done in about a minute, so I'm five minutes over. So if you look at that diagram, there's two things going on. And I think Natalie may have mentioned it or something. But essentially, and if anyone has better numbers, but I was looking all over the place for like, okay, how many sperm get in? How many get to the egg? And the numbers are wildly different. Everything from like 2 million up to 300 million. Only 1% does get up to the years to begin with. And then you've got anything from, I saw one article. I mean, these are scholarly papers too. It says anything from a few dozen find the egg up to thousands. Find the egg. But most of them die on the way from stress, pH, differences, mucus, immune system, all that. But even then, for a guy, if you look at that, the peak time for a guy to do this is around late 20s, early 30s time period, okay? But what's weird is that male fertility has been coming down. If you look over on the right side, it basically said back in, say, 73, the average sperm count worldwide, I don't know what, per milliliter, okay? Millions per milliliter. It was 100, basically 100. And by 2018, you're down to about below 50 or half. So I don't know what's happening there, but and then somebody mentioned something about the Y chromosome also having a problem. Okay, so that's kind of my, I hope it wasn't too, I hope it was, I don't know. But I hope it wasn't too, I hope you found some interest in it. I hope you found something that you didn't know.