A smartphone is enough to assess male fertility. Just as women tests pregnancy with an in-home test kit, men can measure their index of fertility from sperm count and motility while sitting at home with a smartphone and getting the semen analysis with 97 percent accuracy.

Developed by Harvard researchers, the test uses a smartphone app and 3D-printed optical accessory to play out the video to see the sample sperm cells.

The results are analyzed by computer algorithms on the basis of video evidence, and analysis is offered to highlight the right percentage of fast swimming sperms.

The Android app takes one-second videos at the rate of 30 frames per second, with each frame analyzed for sperm count and motility.

The researchers have hailed the innovation as a paradigm shift in assessing male infertility in a cost-effective and most convenient way.

Despite such technological high tides, when it comes to fertility, there are rituals and customs rooted in traditions that seek to propitiate powers beyond the control of humans. Fertility rites essentially seek new birth and divine cure for infertility.

Fertility Rites As Alternative To Reproductive Medicine

Mainstream medicine has its own way of treating infertility and never encourages spells and ceremonies that appeal to the all-powerful and supernatural forces. According to science, such practices will not improve the chances of becoming pregnant or making a woman pregnant.

In many cultures, fertility rites are indispensable in treating infertility beyond medical solutions.

Fertility rites may look weird and outdated, but men and women embrace them as the homage to the sexual energy and reproduction.

According to sociologists, most fertility rituals date back to pagan practices as ceremonies to improve the chances of conception.

Ultimately, the right or wrong of a fertility ritual hinges on the individual's belief system. Such beliefs are associated with practices in cultures and are high in symbolism and ceremonies loaded with awe-inspiring materials, sounds, and practices.

Symbolism In World's Fertility Rites

In simple terms, fertility rites propitiate the forces of reproduction and birth. The Columbia Encyclopedia defines "rites" as a way of appealing to the forces of nature that are beyond human control.

Fertility deities come in myriad forms and are soaked in different rituals rooted in mythologies.

Associated with conception, fertility, pregnancy, and birth, there will be a fertility deity piously appeased through fire, phallic symbols, animals, flowers, and prayers. The incantations, dances, and chants add to the symbolic cycle of life or a way to seek higher guidance.

• Cornish Bronze Statue: Myths concerning conception and new life are linked to Cornish Bronze Age monument known as the Crick Stone for more than 4,500 years, where the monument will bless with a progeny any woman who crosses the stone seven times.
 • Victor Noir Grave, France: The statue of Victor Noir at the Père Lachaise Cemetery boosts fertility, as the aspiring woman only need to kiss the statue on its lips, submit a flower in his hat, and touch his trousers.
 • Hot Coals, China: In China, grooms carry his newlywed wife over burning coals while entering the home as a way of ensuring fertility.
 • Dorset Giant: The Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorset boosts fertility, as folklore says that a woman who sleeps on the naked figure will become pregnant.
 • Miracle Chair, Italy: Naples "miracle chair" has women queuing up to sit on the chair to receive the blessing of motherhood while pictures of babies adorn the walls.