Re:Scientists claim to have created human sperm in laboratory
by dantheman on Wednesday July 08, 2009 @04:30AM
(#693541)
That is truly amazing, it's great that almost weekly I see something created that seemed like it might be decades away.
There are a lot of political/legal consequences of research like this, paternity tests can be used to rob unwitting men if someone decides to create a child without their knowledge. Also, this may eventually change the burden of proof in various forms of assault as the presence of sperm doesn't actually indicate that the individual involved was there.
On the flip side the upside is amazing, allowing sterile fathers to have children. And of course the technology is involved is amazing.
Re:Scientists claim to have created human sperm in laboratory
by anthonyw on Wednesday July 08, 2009 @09:03AM
(#693798)
Some of his early work led to stories about “an end to men”, enabling lesbian couples to have their own biological children without male involvement but, according to Prof Nayernia, these were based on a “misunderstanding”.
“IVD sperm can only be produced from stem cells with male [XY] chromosomes,” he said. “Stem cells with female [XX] chromosomes can be prompted to form early-stage sperm but do not progress further. This demonstrates that the genes on a Y chromosome are essential for meiosis and sperm maturation.”
Re:Scientists claim to have created human sperm in laboratory
by eru on Wednesday July 08, 2009 @08:40AM
(#693770)
Why? Male couples should be able to reproduce in the same way --- given enough money to rent out a womb (or the technology to create one). As an added bonus they can also create females.
Re:Scientists claim to have created human sperm in laboratory
by jeremyawon on Friday July 10, 2009 @08:32AM
(#697553)
an upside i haven't seen mentioned is birth control - if the technology were perfected, men could sterilize themselves without giving up the possibility of having children.
Re:Scientists claim to have created human sperm in laboratory
by bd on Wednesday July 08, 2009 @08:23AM
(#693750)
Are adult stem cells equivalent to embryonal ones?
From how I understood it, they just separated germline cells from very early embryos and let them develop into sperm in an incubator (that is, these germline stem cells would anyway develop into sperm, if left in the embryo).
While this is certainly interesting, for "curing" infertility, wouldn't you still need to find a way how to turn adult stem cells into germline stem cells?
This seems like equivalent problem to "growing hearts in a vat".
Re:Scientists claim to have created human sperm in laboratory
by rms on Thursday July 09, 2009 @08:44PM
(#696917)
There are all sorts of different singularities, in my opinion. Cold fusion would be a singularity. Biological immortality/gene modification in the living is another. Self-improving AI is the singularity that encompasses all of the possible singularities.
There are a lot of political/legal consequences of research like this, paternity tests can be used to rob unwitting men if someone decides to create a child without their knowledge. Also, this may eventually change the burden of proof in various forms of assault as the presence of sperm doesn't actually indicate that the individual involved was there.
On the flip side the upside is amazing, allowing sterile fathers to have children. And of course the technology is involved is amazing.
“IVD sperm can only be produced from stem cells with male [XY] chromosomes,” he said. “Stem cells with female [XX] chromosomes can be prompted to form early-stage sperm but do not progress further. This demonstrates that the genes on a Y chromosome are essential for meiosis and sperm maturation.”
From: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1f16dfe8-6b2f-11de-861d-00144feabd...
This is probably a completely ridiculous idea, but I wonder if men might someday be weeded out by "natural" selection.
This would be a problem with the law, not a problem with the science.
From how I understood it, they just separated germline cells from very early embryos and let them develop into sperm in an incubator (that is, these germline stem cells would anyway develop into sperm, if left in the embryo).
While this is certainly interesting, for "curing" infertility, wouldn't you still need to find a way how to turn adult stem cells into germline stem cells?
This seems like equivalent problem to "growing hearts in a vat".
Plus they didn't do that in the Matrix (as far I can remember from the show it was regular births).