Baby making music!
Marvin Gaye's soulful and famous song, "Let's Get It On", is commonly associated with romps in the bedroom which I'm sure on countless occasions has led to the birth of many children around the world. Music is indeed a powerful tool in many aspects of life, as shown in a recent Spanish research project linking music to boosting success rates of IVF fertilization by five percent. Gaye most likely did not have reproductive technology in mind when envisioning the audience for his seductive lyrics, but sometimes we cannot anticipate the impacts art may have in the world.
The researched showed that the musical vibrations may ease the passage of nutrients into the egg and speed the removal of toxic waste, hence increasing the odds of fertilization. The scientists injected sperm into almost 1,000 eggs and put them on dishes in incubators. In half of the incubators, they cranked up the Ipods, and playing music such as Michael Jackson, Nirvana, Mozart, Bach, and Metallica. Upon checking the dishes, fertilization rates were higher when music was on to entertain the embryos.
When asked whether the type of music mattered to help the fertilization process, the study showed that "embryos aren't so picky." So at your next embryo retrieval for IVF, bring your sperm and your Ipod!