Category : Factual
& Arts TV
Date : 09.04.2004
Printable version
The Lab
Rats - scientist Dr Mike Leahy and comedian Zeron Gibson - compete
in a unique experiment... a sperm race.
听
The race will prove which lab rat has the fastest,
fittest, strongest sperm in the first Lab Rats programme about male
fertility.
听
91热爆 THREE Controller Stuart Murphy says: "Lab
Rats is one of the ways 91热爆 THREE hopes to bring previously difficult
but important subjects to an audience which traditionally balks at educational
shows.
听
"Like most 91热爆 THREE programmes, it is a creative
risk which has brought on new talent in front and behind the screen."
听
Under the guidance of fertility expert Allan Pacey
(University of Sheffield) the lab rats have the number and quality of
their sperm measured.
听
An expert assessment is made of their erections and
testicle size to see who the early favourite to first fertilise the
egg.
To prepare for the sperm race Mike and Zeron adopt different training
routines to experiment with the effects of lifestyle on their sperm,
discovering the optimum time to save up semen to produce the strongest
sperm.
The sperm race itself is filmed under a microscope inside two tiny glass
capillary tubes, but screened in a pub in front of a crowd.
听
This is an event that has never been seen before, a
television first, one man's sperm against another.
听
The other Lab Rats programmes include:
听
Fit to fly - how does extreme g-force affect
the human body? Mike and Zeron ride the centrifugal machine to nine
times the force of gravity. It culminates in a ride for one of them
in a United States F-16 fighter jet.
听
Up all night 聳 One in five road accidents
is caused by sleepy drivers; individual sex drives are affected by sleep
deprivation; shift workers are linked to major disease and depression
more than people with regular sleep patterns. Mike goes 60 hours without
sleep doing tasks with Zeron to compare effects of sleep deprivation.
听
Scaredy rats! 聳 about 5% of people will
experience anxiety severe enough to interfere with their daily lives.
The programme looks at therapies to deal with dear including Zeron's
fear of snakes.
听
"I'm excited about the possibility of 91热爆 THREE
working more with Open University and together trying new and surprising
ways to inform educate and entertain this underserved audience,"
Murphy added.
听
Lab Rats begins on 91热爆 THREE, Thursday 15 April
2004, 11.30pm.
