A big step toward safe, reversible male contraception

Cornell scientists have taken a major step toward developing a safe, reversible, long-acting and 100% effective nonhormonal male contraceptive, considered the holy grail of male contraception. A proof-of-principle study in mice, six years in the making, shows how targeting a natural checkpoint in meiosis, the process by which sex cells reproduce, safely stopped sperm production. The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.