Contraceptive pill, now in gel form

But not yet in the market.  Researchers recently reported that rubbing the contraceptive gel on a woman’s arms, shoulders, legs, or abdomen could prevent a woman from getting pregnant.

Similar in action to the contraceptive pill, the gel does not have common pill side effects and could be used while breastfeeding.

The contraceptive gel may soon add to the range of choices women have for contraception.

On another front, research is being done on human egg cells to see if novel contraceptives can be developed that will bat away pesky sperm cells from fertilizing it.  By looking at the human egg cell protein ZP3, found in the zona pellucida, which is

the egg’s strong outer coating… it helps to ensure that – in general – only sperm from the correct species can fertilise the egg.

Aside from the potential to becoming the newest target for contraception since birth control pills, ZP3 could also give insight as to how to help sperm from infertile men to break the egg cell barrier.