The Handmaid’s Tale and counting sperm: are fertility rates actually declining?

Prof Shaun Roman

writer

Prof Shaun Roman

Senior Lecturer, University of Newcastle

Prof Shaun Roman

With the release of a new TV series based on Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and a recent study claiming male sperm count is decreasing globally, fertility is in the spotlight. Many want to know if the dystopian future Atwood created in which the world has largely become infertile, is in fact possible. And are we on our way there already?

What this latest study found

The recent paper that hit headlines all over the world highlighted the issue of declining sperm numbers in Western men.

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