Motherless babies possible as scientists create live offspring without need for female egg

[ansible]

Motherless babies could be on the horizon after scientists discovered a method of creating offspring without the need for a female egg. The landmark experiment by the University of Bath rewrites 200 years of biology teaching and could pave the way for a baby to be born from the DNA of two men. It was always thought that only a female egg could spark the changes in a sperm required to make a baby, because an egg forms from a special kind of cell division in which just half the number of chromosomes are carried over. Sperm cells form in the same way, so that when a sperm and egg meet they form a full genetic quota, with half our DNA coming from our mother and half from our father.

But now scientists have shown embryos could be created from cells which carry all their chromosomes which means that, in theory, any cell in the human body could be fertilised by a sperm. hree generations of mice have already been created using the technique and are fit and healthy and now researchers are planning to test out the theory using skin cells. Dr Tony Perry, a molecular embryologist and senior author of the study, said: “Some people say start the day with an egg, but what this paper says is that you don’t necessarily have to start development with one. “It has been thought that only an egg cell was capable of reprogramming sperm to allow embryonic development to take place. “Our work challenges that dogma, held since early embryologists first observed mammalian eggs in around 1827 and observed fertilisation 50 years later, that only an egg cell fertilised with a sperm cell can result in a live mammalian birth.

“We’re talking about different ways of making embryos. Imagine that you could take skin cells and make embryos from them. This would have all kinds of utility.” For the initial experiments, scientists "tricked" an egg into developing into an embryo using special chemicals which makes the egg think it has been fertilised. Crucially the cells in an embryo copy themselves completely when they divide, and so mirror closely most other cells in the body, such as skin cells. When scientists injected the embryos with sperm, they grew into healthy mice which went on to produce their own litters.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/09/13/motherless-babies-possible-as-scientists-create-live-offspring-w/

[ProfessorPlum]

1. Alpha children wear grey

They work much harder than we do, because they're so frightfully clever. I'm really awfully glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don't want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

2. LOL! When I was younger I think I was an Alpha child; but biological status decays over time.

[Revanchist]

3. Don't know if anyone else saw Stingray Sam

[redgreenandblue]

4. Reminds me of...

I do not know my father
He lives in a far-off land
I have never won, only lost
No mother bore me

My eyes are drawn to my mirror
My eyes go wide with shock
A tube coming from my navel
Giving me life

Your voice speaks deep within me
Coldly giving orders
Your blood runs in my veins
and my rage burns and boils

I am created and conceived
(born from your blood)
Written off, word for word
(the spirit you conjured)
I am a fractured image of your self
(I owe you my life)
Not begotten but made
A fool who laughs from within the mirror

I am alone with my questions
The answer has only four letters
A secret alphabet
written in blood

You were driven by an evil spirit
You simply wrote it off
You copied it word for word
spelling out my soul

Your voice speaks deep within me
Coldly giving orders
Your blood runs in my veins
and my rage burns and boils

I am created and conceived
(born from your blood)
Written off, word for word
(the spirit you conjured)
I am a fractured image of your self
(I owe you my life)
Not begotten but made
A fool who laughs from the mirror

Mirror, mirror on the wall
I know you all too well
Mirror, mirror on the wall
I made you with my own hands

Mirror, mirror on the wall
I know you all too well
Mirror, mirror on the all
You live and die by my hand

Deep within you, my voice speaks
Coldly giving orders
My blood flows in your veins
and your rage burns and boils

You are created and conceived
(born from my blood)
Written off, word for word
(the spirit I conjured)
You are a copy of my self
(You owe me your life)
You are not begotten but made
The fool who laughs from within the mirror

I am like you, an original
not a cheap copy
A perfectly faked mirror image
but I will never be an original

Greedily I breathe life in
(my heartbeat matches yours)
I am your twin and your son
but in the end, I am but a clone

[rug]

5. .