Things are hotting up! Welcome to this summer issue dedicated to ‘Sex through the ages’.

When encouraging students to pursue a scientific and/or clinical career in endocrinology, I often tell them that endocrine science and practice span the entire human life cycle, making endocrinology the most vibrant, inclusive and fascinating discipline in medicine. The field of reproductive endocrinology has witnessed exciting advances over recent years, and it is wonderful to see UK scientists and clinicians continuing to play a major role in ground-breaking developments.

The feature articles in this issue of The Endocrinologist cover many topical issues in this area. Raj Mathur gives us an insight into fertility preservation, discussing some fundamental principles and touching on what’s on the horizon in this fast-moving area. Alex Comninos and Waljit Dhillo’s excellent piece suggests that kisspeptin may be the master regulator of reproduction. They discuss their recent work revealing roles for kisspeptin in sexual and emotional behaviour.

Rod Mitchell focuses on endocrine disruption and male reproductive health, while Heather Blackmore highlights the importance of animal studies in uncovering mechanistic insights into how the maternal environment drives off spring phenotype. In addition, Channa Jayasena, Du Soon Swee, Andrew Dwyer and Richard Quinton brilliantly summarise all you need to know about induction of spermatogenesis in men with gonadotrophin deficiency.

To gear you all up for summer, Gerard Conway has written from sunny Western Australia! He introduces a pregnancy audit for women with Turner syndrome and congenital adrenal hyperplasia, emphasising that there is much to learn about pregnancy outcomes in women with a variety of endocrine conditions. Finally, articles by Annice Mukherjee and Agnieszka Swiecicka shine a spotlight on challenging questions in reproductive hormone replacement therapy.

We had a heart-warming boost in our online readership for the last edition and I hope this promising trajectory continues!

Enjoy the summer. With warmest good wishes

Amir Sam