We all began with fireworks… or a calcium/zinc reaction.
When a sperm meets an egg, a bright flash of light signifies the beginning of a human life.
The Telegraph published footage of this fascinating phenomena:
Almost as interesting as the footage? The Telegraph acknowledges that life begins at conception:
Human life begins in bright flash of light as a sperm meets an egg, scientists have shown for the first time, after capturing the astonishing ‘fireworks’ on film.An explosion of tiny sparks erupts from the egg at the exact moment of conception….Not only is it an incredible spectacle, highlighting the very moment that a new life begins, the size of the flash can be used to determine the quality of the fertilised egg.
It’s not just human life that gets a bright welcome to the world. The phenomena or zinc spark, was first observed five years ago in a mouse.
The discovery could help fertility doctors pick the best fertilised eggs to transfer during in vitro fertilisation (IVF).“It was remarkable,” said Professor Teresa Woodruff, one of the study’s two senior authors and an expert in ovarian biology at Northwestern.“We discovered the zinc spark just five years ago in the mouse, and to see the zinc radiate out in a burst from each human egg was breathtaking.“This means if you can look at the zinc spark at the time of fertilization, you will know immediately which eggs are the good ones to transfer in in vitro fertilization.“It’s a way of sorting egg quality in a way we’ve never been able to assess before. “All of biology starts at the time of fertilization, yet we know next to nothing about the events that occur in the human.”
Scientists from the University of Chicago, who published the study, believe the discovery will pave the way for more successful in vitro fertilization:
“This is an important discovery because it may give us a non-invasive and easily visible way to assess the health of an egg and eventually an embryo before implantation,” said co-author Dr Eve Feinberg, who took care of the patients who provided eggs for the basic science study and collaborated with the research team. “There are no tools currently available that tell us if it’s a good quality egg. Often we don’t know whether the egg or embryo is truly viable until we see if a pregnancy ensues.“That’s the reason this is so transformative. If we have the ability up front to see what is a good egg and what’s not, it will help us know which embryo to transfer, avoid a lot of heartache and achieve pregnancy much more quickly.”
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