Sperm Telomeres

Recently I learned that as men age they produce sperm with longer telomeres. 

This is weird, for two ways. 
Well maybe even more, like where they getting all this sperm. 

But scientifically, as people age we know their telomeres shorten. Telomeres are a sort of cap on the end of DNA that protect it. We know that as we age we lose activity in a process that maintains these structures. But also as people live their lives and their cells divide, these telomeres get shorter and shorter, until ultimately death. This structure has been called an internal clock for aging.  

So its really strange you get sperm with longer telomeres as men age. Is this where all of their telomeres are going?

Or is there some kind of advantage to having sperm with longer telomeres? 

The second weirdness is how does it occur?
People who have studied it were trying to explain it with the usual process, telomerase, an enzyme that fixes the telomeres, and makes cells live longer. This itself has garnered a lot of research as you can imagine, could be a secret to living for a long time. But in sperm it seems to be another process. 


So the mystery continues.