First human synthetic model embryos

[msstice]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/14/health/human-model-embryo/index.html

A team of researchers in the United States and United Kingdom say they have created the world’s first synthetic human embryo-like structures from stem cells, bypassing the need for eggs and sperm.

These embryo-like structures are at the very earliest stages of human development: They don’t have a beating heart or a brain, for example. But scientists say they could one day help advance the understanding of genetic diseases or the causes of miscarriages.

 

[Robert Zwilling]

The article seems to leave out a lot. They don't have hearts or brains, but then it says they have beginnings of hearts and brains. Let it grow and apparently they will form. There are no laws governing the production or use, you can grow them in test tubes or try to implant them in animals, but apparently there is a law? rule? agreement that you can't implant them in people. They are just growing them in test tubes, trying to save lives, not to create life, but growing babies in a test tube certainly is a goal expressed in many stories. What is illegal in one country doesn't mean its illegal in any other country.

 

[Dave]

growing babies in a test tube certainly is a goal expressed in many stories. What is illegal in one country doesn't mean its illegal in any other country.

If something is possible, then someone will try to do it. I think history shows that laws and conventions won't stop that. However, is that really anyone's goal?

Making clones of Hitler and 'brains in a jar' are good stock science fiction themes but I thought the goal of this research was partly to grow new livers, hearts and kidneys for spare part surgery. Doing that is far preferable to organlegging or to having the poor sell their organs to the rich. And stem cell research should cure many genetic diseases and a lot of suffering.

The idea of nursery farms of young humans, usually with the adults behaviour, reproduction and moods, also controlled by chemical drugs, was another 1960's/'70's science fiction staple, but it won't happen. We wouldn't thrive in that kind of bleak society.

A reminder to people that abortion and religion are two of the subjects we don't discuss on this forum, but the disagreements over stem cell research don't come from whether or not humans can be cloned, but are much more fundamental.

 

[Foxbat]

The cynic in me wonders if people will not only be created artificially one day but will also have PAF embedded in their DNA (Patent Applied For).