Tick tock tick tock...

"Scientists have developed a method that aims to predict how fast a woman's biological clock is ticking and when she is likely to go through menopause."

(Reuters, Patricia Reaney, 16 June 2004)

By measuring the volume of ovaries with ultrasound, researchers in Scotland said Thursday that they can predict the reproductive age of a woman aged 25 to 51, or how many eggs she may has left.... ...

Women are born with an estimated 800,000 eggs but the number dwindles with age. At about 37, when there are about 25,000 eggs left, the decline speeds up and the ovaries shrink until most of the eggs are depleted and menopause occurs [usually aruond age 50, +/- 7-8 years -- EBB]. ...

But the method will not work for women taking oral contraception because it decreases the size of the ovaries or for women suffering from polycystic ovarian syndrome, a disorder that causes infertility.