That’s why a male orgasm is such a vigorous endeavor. What seems to the man purely a burst of pleasure really is a kind of rocket launch. Once the sperm are expelled, it isn’t known whether they move about randomly until one strikes lucky or whether they are drawn to the waiting egg by some chemical signal.*1 In either case, overwhelmingly they fail. The chances of a successful fertilization from a single randomly timed act of sex have been calculated to be only about 3 percent. And matters seem to be getting worse across the Western world. About one in seven couples now seek help in
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