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Sperm are very different from all other cells

There are huge gaps in what we know about sperm, from how they navigate to why sperm counts are tumbling. The BBC unravels why we know so little about this perplexing cell.

Almost 200 years later, in 1869, Johannes Friedrich Miescher, a Swiss physician and biologist, was studying human white blood cells collected from pus left on soiled hospital bandages when he discovered what he called "nuclein" inside the nuclei. It turns out that what's driving the system is female evolution – and males are just trying to keep up – Scott PitnickSperm cells begin to form from puberty onwards, made in vessels within the testicles called seminiferous tubules. (It's also worth noting that many people around the world are not having as many children as they want for other reasons too, such as the prohibitive cost of parenthood, as a recent United Nation population Fund report highlighted).

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