New research shows sperm generate corkscrew-like fluid vortices that spin in sync with their tails, providing an unexpected boost.
When we learn about “the birds and the bees,” we’re taught that after heterosexual intercourse, sperm swim up through the vagina, past the uterus, and into the fallopian tube, where one fertilizes an egg released by the ovaries. It turns out, however, that sperm aren’t just leisurely swimming—they’re racing through the female reproductive tract, propelled by swirling fluid vortices shaped like rolling corkscrews.
Researchers from Monash University and the University of Melbourne used advanced imaging to analyze the 3D fluid motion around swimming sperm. As detailed in a study published Tuesday in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science, the imaging revealed that a single swimming sperm creates multiple swirling vortices that attach to the cell and rotate around each other in sync, boosting the sperm’s propulsion.
