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Mice Produced Using Artificial Sperm

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the photocopied-mice dept.

vasanth writes to tell us scientists have successfully grown mice from artificial sperm. The sperm was created from embryonic stem cells and implanted into female mice. There were a few problems, including that some of the mice showed abnormal patterns of growth and difficulty breathing. The hope here is to assist couples who are having difficulties with conception.

4 of 435 comments (clear)

  1. Artificial Sperm? by lecithin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Not artificial sperm, but artificially grown sperm.

    People took'sperm seeds' from stem cells and grew them into mature sperm outside the gonads.

    Regardless, it looks like males have one less reason for existance.

    --
    It could be worse, it could be Monday.
  2. Heather Has Two Mommies by Doug+Dante · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Lesbian couples can now eliminate the external sperm doner and Heather can have two mommies who are both her biological parents. All children will be girls, unless a Y chromosome is added from a donor and an X is yanked.

    Given some time, eggs may also be made as well as sperm from stem cells, and homosexual male couples can also have biological children with the help of a woman to carry the fetus.

    --
    The world will not get better through technology. We must seek to be better people.
  3. Welcome to the real-life "Amazon" by scheming+daemons · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The hope here is to assist couples who are having difficulties with conception.

    With this technology, two women could generate a baby that has 23 chromosomes from each of them. Men would no longer be necessary to create a new human being that is genetically half of two different individuals.

    And since both "halves" would be providing an X chromosome and never a Y, the resulting baby would be female... every time.

    If enough women in a society opt for this form of male-unnecessary reproduction, over a few generations there will be no more males in that society.

    I can see Gloria Steinem and others of similar political persuasion creating a female-only society somewhere with this technology. An estrogen utopia.

    I, for one, welcome our Lesbian overlords.

    --
    "I have as much authority as the pope, I just
    don't have as many people who believe it" - George Carlin
  4. OK, I'll be the party pooper here by argStyopa · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm not convinced that 'helping infertile couples have children' is the ultimate rationale - is everyone ENTITLED to have children?

    I mean, is it so far fetched to believe that several million years of trial and error have produced a system of conception that is fairly fault-tolerant but will self-abort if a certain minimum level of viability is not achieved? And that short-circuiting this might not be in anyone's best interest - the parents', the child's, society's?

    So then we come in with near-godlike medical technology, and FORCE certain sets of gametes together which would otherwise fail? Am I the only one that has a moral problem with that?

    Personally, I'm a HUGE fan of the 'conventional' method of fertilization; if it works, great. If it doesn't, maybe there's a very good reason it doesn't.

    --
    -Styopa