“I saw tadpoles, they're moving!” Recently, at the Zhongxin Xiangya Reproductive and Genetic Specialty Hospital Human Sperm Bank, more than 30 children focused intently on microscopes, their hearts filled with curiosity and a thirst for exploration. This is China's first human sperm bank and currently the largest human sperm bank in terms of frozen storage capacity.

Children Explore the Mysteries of Life

That day, Zhongxin Xiangya Hospital and the Hunan Province Koderm Rare Disease Care Center, in conjunction with the Jinya Community of the Lugu Street in Xiangjiang New District, held a "Walk into Zhongxin" life science summer education and practice activity. The goal was to use popular science interaction and lectures to allow children to personally experience the mysteries of life science and inspire a deep interest in scientific research.

Children Visit the Human Sperm Bank

Under the guidance of staff, the children toured the hospital, learning about the hospital's history and achievements in the field of reproductive health. From Professor Lu Huilin, a founder of the field of genetics in China, who harbored the dream of improving the health and physique of the Chinese people, to Professor Lu Guangxiu who started from scratch and overcame numerous difficulties in conducting research on in-vitro fertilization techniques. In the hospital's development history and culture corridor, the staff recounted the stories behind the development of human assisted reproductive technology, and the children listened attentively. One child said, “Grandma Lu is really my idol; I really want to meet her!” Professor Lu Guangxiu, who was being interviewed by the media at the hospital, heard this and immediately came to the children, warmly chatting with them and encouraging them to love science from a young age and to contribute to China's scientific undertakings in the future.

Professor Lu Guangxiu (far left) interacting with the children.

At the Zhongxin Xiangya Human Sperm Bank, the children were full of curiosity and anticipation. They observed sperm samples through microscopes, seeing lively "tadpoles" swimming around, and the children exclaimed, “I saw them! So many tadpoles, and they're moving!” In addition to microscope observation, the children also experienced a small experiment of cryopreserving flowers in liquid nitrogen at the human sperm bank. Seeing flowers instantly freeze in liquid nitrogen at -196 degrees Celsius, becoming as brittle as potato chips, the children were amazed.

The children participated in a hands-on experiment of cryopreserving flowers in liquid nitrogen.

At the event, He Wenbin, associate professor of the Genetics Center of Zhongxin Xiangya Hospital, and Chen Huifang, project specialist of the Hunan Koderm Rare Disease Care Center, gave the children public lectures on "Where Do I Come From" and "Born Different: Popular Science on Rare Diseases," respectively. This helped children understand the laws of genetic inheritance and gain a preliminary understanding of rare diseases.

This popular science study tour was one of the Zhongxin Xiangya "Walk into Zhongxin" series of open days.

A group photo at the event. (All photos in this article were provided by Zhongxin Xiangya Hospital)