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Do sperm really race to the egg?

Live Science
Summary
Nutrition label

72% Informative

Millions of sperm swim as fast as they can toward the egg until one wins the race and wriggles into the egg.

Sperm do swim during this process, but the major movement is provided by contractions of the female reproductive tract.

The egg can't swim, so instead tiny hairs called cilia help it along.

Ashley Hamer is a contributing writer for Live Science .

She's the host of the podcast Taboo Science and the former host of Curiosity Daily from Discovery .

Hamer has a master's degree in jazz saxophone from the University of North Texas .

She has also written for the YouTube channels SciShow and It's Okay to Be Smart.

VR Score

79

Informative language

81

Neutral language

62

Article tone

informal

Language

English

Language complexity

39

Offensive language

possibly offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

long-living