Scott Pitnick, Weeden Professor of Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences, was quoted in a BBC article titled, "'There's a huge amount that we don't understand': Why sperm is still so mysterious." The article explores recent breakthroughs that are advancing our understanding of how sperm function and transform during their journey through the female body.

In his research, Pitnick studies sperm in fruit flies to uncover how they function and evolve—highlighting the role of the female reproductive tract in shaping sperm traits. He notes that sperm are the most diverse and rapidly evolving cells on Earth, yet much remains unknown, especially about their behavior inside the female body, which he calls the "greatest unexplored frontier" in reproductive biology.

"It turns out the female reproductive tract is this incredibly, rapidly evolving environment," Pitnick said in the article. "...we don't know much about what sperm do inside the female. That is the big, hidden world. I think the female reproductive tract is the greatest unexplored frontier for sexual selection, theory and speciation [the process by which new species are formed]."