Men and teenage boys who use laptop computers may be damaging their fertility, a U.S. study shows. The combination of the heat generated by the computer and the posture needed to balance the machine on the lap increases the temperature around a man’s scrotum, which in the long term may reduce his fertility, according to researchers at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. The study found that sitting with thighs together while balancing a laptop causes temperatures in the scrotum to rise by as much as 2.8 degrees Celsius (37 degrees Fahrenheit), compared with an increase of 2.1 degrees Celsius when sitting with legs together without a computer. The research was published today in the December issue of Reproduction Journal.
