Checking your sperm count has been made a whole lot easier by a remarkable new invention
Your iPhone can do many things. But up until now, measuring a man's sperm count wasn't one of them.
But thanks to a new invention from Japanese researcher Yoshitomo Kobori, your little pocket computer is about to become a sexual health clinic.
Dr. Kobori has created a type of lens that can be fitted to the smartphone's camera. Dropping a sperm sample onto the lens and filming it will create footage that can then be analysed by a lab.
The idea behind it is that men are often too anxious to visit the clinic - but almost all of us have smartphones. The lens itself is inexpensive and creates, in Kobori's words "a semen test at home."
“The lens is not made for a smartphone - it was made nine years ago," he said .
"I’m improving the lens and thinking about how to attach it to a smartphone and analyze sperm.
"Men are thinking that semen analyses are an embarrassment, inconvenience, disgrace and waste of time."
Dr. Kobori is currently a visiting fellow at the University of Illinois in Chicago.
As technology advances, both companies and scientists are looking to improve sexual health and awareness.
Last month, Swedish sex toy company Lelo claimed to have developed the "condom of the future", which has been re-engineered to prevent breakage, reduce slippage and eliminate discomfort.
Known as Hex, each condom is made up of 350 ultra-thin latex hexagons arranged in a honeycomb structure, which Lelo claims allows it to flex and mold to the wearer's shape.