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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Arwa Mahdawi

Sperm racing is all the rage among the tech bros. Why am I not surprised?

A breakaway yellow sperm races towards the finish line, chased by other yellow and green guys
One of Zhu’s sperm races, which take place on tiny 2mm-long tracks and are then enhanced with 3D animation software. Photograph: Patrick T Fallon/AFP/Getty Images

Remember when Elon Musk challenged Vladimir Putin to physical combat and Mark Zuckerberg to a cage fight? Neither of those brawls took place for various reasons. Not least, I suspect, because Musk is just self-aware enough to know that he would not emerge with his dignity, or his spine, intact. However, if the richest man in the world is still casting around for a way to publicly demonstrate his virility, I think I’ve hit on the perfect way: sperm racing.

This isn’t some below-the-belt insult. Sperm racing is an emerging “thing” among tech types now. A teenage entrepreneur called Eric Zhu came up with the idea, and went viral with his first sperm race in April. That initial race was rudimentary: college students gave sperm samples to be analysed and the results were turned into an animated race that visualised the fastest offerings.

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