Laptop computers 'should not be used in laps' - may damage sperm

LAPTOP computers really should not be kept in our laps as they may have something to do with male infertility, research has found. 

When men use their laptops in their laps instead of on their desks, they may be overheating those male parts, which, in turn, may be damaging their sperm, research by Fertility and Sterility found.

In studies, even men who used laptop pads as a buffer between their machine and their man parts, dangerously overheated themselves within 10 minutes.

The authors note that other research has shown that warming the scrotum more than 1.8 degrees (one degree Celsius) is enough to damage sperm.

After one hour, the 29 subjects working with a laptop on their knees had raised the temperature in their testicles by more than 4 degrees (2.5 degrees Celsius).The research was led by a State University of New York, US, urologist Yefim Sheynkin who noted that this is not proof that laptops definitely lead to infertility among men.

Yet, he warned that men should be cautious because it might lead to problems down the road.