It is a profound irony that as we allow even very late term fetuses to be aborted on one hand, scientists are finding radical nature-bending ways to assist people have babies–including methods that could shatter familial norms. Newest possibility: Artificial sperm and ova. From the Guardian story:
Speaking at the Progress Educational Trust annual conference in London this month, Azim Surani, director of germline and epigenetics research at the University of Cambridge’s Gurdon Institute, said he and colleagues had passed a significant milestone on the path to producing sperm in the laboratory. The team is thought to be the first to have reached the halfway point on the developmental path from human stem cells to immature sperm. The study hints that one day it may be possible to manufacture sperm and eggs from stem cells or even adult skin cells.
This could, at least in theory, permit men to become biological mothers, and with genetic engineering, women to become fathers:
Read more at:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/455045/here-come-artificial-sperm
