Don’t beat yourself up if you didn’t see this coming - no one did. Pun intended.
For the first time ever, LA is hosting a sperm race.
Yep, you heard that right.
A start up called ‘Sperm Racing’, are launching this wild, history-making event as a way to “make reproductive health engaging and measurable while addressing declining fertility rates.”
Four brains are behind the idea:
Eric Zhu, who is a 17 year old millionaire, after creating analytical platform Aviato.
Nick Small, the youngest sold-out founder in cryptocurrency.
Shane Fan, founder & CEO of a stealth company that builds experimental on-chain products.
Garret Niconienko, the founding partner of Starfruit Media, and is an ex-Mr.Beast team member.
As a collective, they raised a cool $1 million to bring the race to life.
The race is to take place on April 25th, though the venue is still under wraps.
Before you write this off as some internet prank - this thing is SERIOUS. Think pro sports level legit. We’re talking about press conferences, live commentary and betting.
So how does it actually work?
Two competitors will go head-to-head: Asher from UCLA and Tristan from USC.
Each will have a sperm sample loaded into a ‘microfluidic chip’ (0.05mm long), and the race begins. The sperm will compete on a 20cm microscopic racetrack, which is modelled after the female reproductive system.
Said racetrack is designed with chemical signals, fluid dynamics and synchronised starts.
Again, these guys are going balls to the wall (had to, sorry) for the production, adding advanced imagery to verify which sperm crosses the finish line first.
How long the race will go for is unsure, possibilities ranging from a few minutes to an hour.
While the whole thing does sound extremely funny, ‘Sperm Racing’ have a vision in mind: “[It] isn’t just about racing sperm (although, let’s be honest, that’s hilarious)... it’s about making male fertility something people actually want to talk about, track and improve,” they write in their manifesto.
“We’re taking a topic no one wants to touch and making it interesting, measurable…. Because health is a race. And everyone deserves a shot at the starting line.”
