The mysterious beginnings of a human life

A new route to creating life

Subscribe Weekend Reads Technology in Perspective 06.10.23 | Artificial embryos Welcome to another edition of Weekend Reads! This week, we're taking a look at artificial embryos. Without using eggs or sperm cells, researchers have made embryo-like structures from stem cells alone, providing a whole new route to creating life. Artificial embryos will make it easier for researchers to study the mysterious beginnings of a human life, but they're stoking new bioethical debates. What if they turn out to be indistinguishable from real embryos? How long can they be grown in the lab before they feel pain? P.S. Don't forget to give your grad a gift subscription of unlimited access to MIT Technology Review and save 18%. The first babies conceived with a sperm-injecting robot have been born Meet the startups trying to engineer a desktop fertility machine. Synthetic embryos have been implanted into monkey wombs Embryos made from stem cells, rather than an egg and sperm, appear to generate a short-lived pregnancy-like response in monkeys. Inside the race to make human sex cells in the lab Scientists might soon be able to create eggs and sperm from skin and blood cells. What will that mean? This startup wants to copy you into an embryo for organ harvesting With plans to create realistic synthetic embryos, grown in jars, Renewal Bio is on a journey to the horizon of science and ethics. Scientists have created synthetic mouse embryos with developed brains The stem-cell-derived embryos could shed new light on the earliest stages of human pregnancy. Meet the "artificial embryos" being called uncanny and spectacular Researchers are getting close to manufacturing viable human embryos from stem cells. They say there needs to be a law against turning them into people. Embryos could count as people too in our post-Roe world Post-Dobbs, amidst a rise in laws establishing "fetal personhood," fertility doctors and their patients fear for the future of IVF. EmTech Next Transform with Technology June 13 - 15, 2023 Learn more » A mouse embryo has been grown in an artificial womb—humans could be next Researchers are growing embryos outside the womb for longer than has ever been possible. Artificial Human Embryos Are Coming, and No One Knows How to Handle Them Stem cells can be coaxed to self-assemble into structures resembling human embryos. Give your grad a year of MIT Technology Review and save 18%. With unlimited access to trusted reporting, expert AI insights, and in-depth emerging tech stories, they'll always be learning.  GIVE A GIFT & SAVE Was this newsletter forwarded to you, and you'd like to see more? Sign up today → View in browser | This email was sent to alexvarboffin.abbb@blogger.com. Manage your preferences | Unsubscribe | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy MIT Technology Review · 196 Broadway, 3rd fl, · Cambridge, MA 02139 · USA Copyright © 2023 MIT Technology Review, All rights reserved. Opt out of all promotional emails and newsletters from MIT Technology Review