Word: outer
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...himself. They are characters in the play Mambo Mouth, a one-man tour de force created and performed by Colombian-born John Leguizamo, 27. Kaleidoscopic, hilarious and politically very incorrect, Mambo Mouth had a successful 35-week run off- Broadway earlier this year and won a 1991 Obie and Outer Critics Circle Award. Now a one-hour TV special based on the show will get the first of six airings on HBO this Saturday...
...their long tails thrashing vigorously. Lured by the chemical signal, several hundred of the most energetic swimmers close in on the egg, their narrow tips unleashing a carefully timed sequence of biochemical salvos. One substance dissolves the jelly-like veil surrounding the egg. Another softens the egg's tough outer shell, preparing it for penetration. In the last moments before conception, a few dozen sperm race to break through the final barricade...
...only one succeeds. The instant it tunnels its way past the egg's outer layer, an electric charge fires across the membrane and a signal from the sperm causes the eggshell to snap shut, blocking entry to any remaining contenders. The successful seed then releases its tightly coiled package of DNA, which fuses with the egg's own DNA and sets in motion a series of genetic events that culminate, nine months later, in the birth of a new human being...
...latest clue in the mystery of implantation was hit upon by scientists working on a completely different problem: lazy sperm. Some sperm lack the ability to penetrate the egg's outer membrane, or zona pellucida, often as a result of old testicular injuries or early exposure to toxic chemicals. Several methods have been devised to give these sperm a boost, including microinjection (the sperm is inserted directly into the egg by means of a microscopic needle) and partial zona drilling (a tiny hole is made in the egg's protective shell...
...Jacques Cohen, one of the scientists who developed the PZD procedure, embryos successfully lodged in the womb at a rate more than five times the national average for IVF. "I was so excited I couldn't sleep at night," says Cohen. Apparently eggs with a hole in their outer membrane somehow benefit from that hole. Cohen theorizes that embryos that don't implant may be having trouble "hatching" through the shell that housed the original egg. The tiny hole Cohen makes to help the sperm get in may be helping the embryo get out -- and may suggest a method...