We recently published an article which discussed the recent news that Scientists expect artificial wombs to be a reality within the next few years.
Ectogenesis, the name given to growing embryos outside of the womb, has had rapid advancements over the last few years with scientists now claiming they have successfully kept alive embryos alive for over 14 days outside the womb:
‘For the first time, scientists have managed to grow human embryos to at least 14 days old inside a petri dish. Their work has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of what makes us human—and it’s the next step on the road to completely artificial, womb-free reproduction. In fact, it’s possible that these embryos might even have kept growing past two weeks, if the scientists did not have to terminate them for ethical reasons.’
Of course, such a technology would allow mothers who are unable to have children a great opportunity to start a family, however, aside from this obvious advantage, such technology is bundled with a whole host of potentially dire consequences.
This on its own would not place the future of Females at risk, however, scientists have now made another discovery, one which could make the Female of the species obsolete.
BBC News[1]:
Scientists say early experiments suggest it may one day be possible to make babies without using eggs.
They have succeeded in creating healthy baby mice by tricking sperm into believing they were fertilising normal eggs.
The findings in Nature Communications, could, in the distant future, mean women can be removed from the baby-making process, say the researchers.
Babies could be created using two males, one sperm could be modified into an egg and the other could be used as it is to fertilise the ‘false’ egg and thus no female required.
In fact, a single man could create offspring by modifying one sperm to act as the egg, then fertilising his ‘false’ egg with his sperm.
In other words, two men could have a child, with one donating an ordinary cell and the other, sperm. Or one man could have his own child using his own cells and sperm – with that child being more like a non-identical twin than a clone. – BBC News[1]
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