<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(50, 50, 50); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><b class="">Excerpts : </b>When you consider that sperm counts declined by 50 percent in just 40 years, as Shanna's </span><a href="https://academic.oup.com/humupd/article/23/6/646/4035689" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(101, 101, 101); text-decoration: none; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(101, 101, 101); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; outline: none !important;" class="">meta-analysis</a><span style="color: rgb(50, 50, 50); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> published in a 2017 issue of the journal </span><em style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(50, 50, 50); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class="">Human Reproduction Update</em><span style="color: rgb(50, 50, 50); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> showed, it’s difficult to deny or discount how alarming this is.</span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(50, 50, 50); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(50, 50, 50); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class="">The truth is, these reproductive health effects are interconnected, </span><em style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; overflow-wrap: break-word; font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class="">and</em><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> they are </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);" class="">largely driven by a common cause: the presence of hormone-altering chemicals (a.k.a., </span></span><a href="https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/endocrine/index.cfm" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(101, 101, 101); text-decoration: none; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(101, 101, 101); font-variant-ligatures: normal; outline: none !important; background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);" class="">endocrine-disrupting chemicals</a><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);" class="">, or EDCs) in our world</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">. These hormone-hijacking chemicals, which include phthalates, bisphenol A, and flame retardants, among others, have become ubiquitous in modern life. They’re in water bottles and food packaging, electronic devices, personal-care products, cleaning supplies and many other items we use regularly. And they began being produced in increasing numbers after 1950, when sperm counts and fertility began their decline.</span></span></span></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/reproductive-problems-in-both-men-and-women-are-rising-at-an-alarming-rate/" class="">https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/reproductive-problems-in-both-men-and-women-are-rising-at-an-alarming-rate/</a><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><font color="#ff2600" class="">#############################################################################</font></div><div class=""><font color="#ff2600" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Excerpt : </b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">But</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);" class=""> male fertility at high temperatures</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">—compared to the temperature at which they stopped moving or died—</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);" class="">was the best indicator of the possibility of warming extinction.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);" class="">Crucially, they revealed that the temperature at which males could no more reproduce was considerably lower compared to temperatures at which they died.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none;" class="">Dr Belinda van Heerwaarden, who recently joined the University of Melbourne, guided the study when she was at the <a href="https://www.monash.edu/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.monash.edu/&source=gmail&ust=1619531156237000&usg=AFQjCNH268wYhpajnSo2Z6Phr31ZHPy3iQ" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(12, 115, 54);" class="">Monash University School of Biological Sciences</span></a> as part of an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA).</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247);" class=""><i class="">The way we currently estimate climate change vulnerability may be underestimating extinction vulnerability. We need to consider fertility if we want to understand the impacts of climate change on biodiversity.</i></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><i style="background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); text-align: right;" class="">Dr Belinda van Heerwaarden, School of Biological Sciences, Monash University</i></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none;" class="">“Species that we thought could tolerate 7 °C of warming may already be experiencing temperatures that are within 1 °C of their male upper reproductive limit. If males are unable to fertilise females, populations will crash and be unable to replace themselves,” van Heerwaarden added.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none;" class="">Moreover, Dr van Heerwaarden and Professor Carla Sgrò from the Monash University School of Biological Sciences analyzed whether male fertility could change via evolution and adjust to rising temperatures.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);" class="">The team discovered that irrespective of whether species were from temperate or tropical environments, they had limited ability to react to warming temperatures.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247);" class=""><i class="">This represents a real risk to biodiversity. We are increasingly finding that many species won’t be able to adapt to projected climate changes.</i></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><i style="background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); text-align: right;" class="">Carla Sgrò, Professor, School of Biological Sciences, Monash University</i></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none;" class=""><b class=""><a href="https://www.azocleantech.com/news.aspx?newsID=29275" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.azocleantech.com/news.aspx?newsID%3D29275&source=gmail&ust=1619531156237000&usg=AFQjCNH-uYIfUi26etTdpMtJqHY89vSZ_A" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class="">https://www.azocleantech.com/<wbr class="">news.aspx?newsID=29275</a></b></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); min-height: 17px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none;" class=""><b class=""></b></span><br class=""></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);" class=""><b class="">Journal Reference:</b></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);" class="">van Heerwaarden, B & Sgrò, C M (2021) Male fertility thermal limits predict vulnerability to climate warming. <i class="">Nature Communications</i>.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> </span><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22546-w" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22546-w&source=gmail&ust=1619531156237000&usg=AFQjCNHr_8b2BGKdb_RdKD6S19TWsSHMNg" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(12, 115, 54);" class="">doi.org/10.<wbr class="">1038/s41467-021-22546-w</span></a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">.</span></p><div class=""><b class="">OPEN ACCESS pdf</b></div><div class=""><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22546-w.pdf" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22546-w.pdf&source=gmail&ust=1619531156237000&usg=AFQjCNEQaMcOMQiQ1zaEe76xFNX1oSMv7A" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class="">https://www.nature.com/<wbr class="">articles/s41467-021-22546-w.<wbr class="">pdf</a></div><div class=""><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""><div class="">
<div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">###############</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">"The old saying that 'past performance is no guide to the future' is not a piece of compliance jargon. It is the truth.”</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><br class=""></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><<https://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21723845-sheer-luck-good-past-returns-predicting-future-performance-fund>></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><br class=""></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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