30 Apr 2016

Science: new contraceptives and genes that make you look older

From This Way Up, 1:50 pm on 30 April 2016

Dr Chris Smith of The Naked Scientists with the latest science news.

This week, a new form of contraceptive and fertility treatment in one. Writing in Science Translational Medicine, Matteo Avella and his colleagues have developed a coating made from parts of the outer shell of human eggs to trap sperm and prevent fertilisation in mice. The same tool could also be useful in selecting the fittest sperm for fertility treatments.

And genes that make you look old. A gene that adds two years to your appearance has been documented by scientists studying people in the Netherlands and the UK.

Dr Chris Smith of The Naked Scientists

Dr Chris Smith of The Naked Scientists Photo: SUPPLIED