Abstract
ATTEMPTS to separate the X and Y species of mammalian spermatozoa by such methods as sedimentation and centrifugation in which differences in size or density should be significant have been largely unsuccessful1. Here I shall develop a simple theory of the motion of spermatozoa under gravity which goes some way to account for these failures. At the same time the theory supports the suggestions2 that the slightly greater proportion3 of male to female births in human beings (106 : 100) may in part be due to preferential progress of the lighter Y sperm through the female reproductive tract.
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ROBERTS, A. Gravitational Separation of X and Y Spermatozoa. Nature 238, 223–225 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1038/238223a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/238223a0
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