Sceptics long saw this as just an amusing theory, an intriguing piece of sci-fi speculation. Yet science generally and AI specifically are now advancing at such a breakneck pace that some people are speculating that the Singularity is real and is almost upon us. Be that as it may, galloping technological change is throwing up new ethical problems almost faster than we can write them down, let alone solve them.
However, this could soon be about to change. In a stunning breakthrough this week, scientists revealed they've been able to create human eggs from skin cells. The technique opens the possibility for DNA from a man's skin cells being placed inside a donor egg, before being fertilised by another man. In theory, this could allow two men to have a baby, without any DNA from a woman.
Colossal Biosciences said on Wednesday it has succeeded in growing pigeon primordial germ cells, precursor cells to sperm and eggs, for the first time. This is a pivotal step in bringing back the dodo, which was a type of pigeon, for the first time in more than 300 years, according to Colossal. The Texas-based company, which has made splashy headlines for its plans to reestablish wooly mammoths and dire wolves, said it has also developed gene-edited chickens that will act as surrogates for the dodos.
Based on lessons from the New Hampshire men and a handful of other one-off attempts, the Food and Drug Administration approved pig producer eGenesis to begin a rigorous study of kidney xenotransplants. "Right now we have a bottleneck" in finding enough human organs, said Mass General kidney specialist Dr. Leonardo Riella, who will help lead the new clinical trial. More than 100,000 people are on the U.S. transplant list, most who need a kidney, and thousands die waiting.
In this study, we report the generation of fertile androgenetic mice. Our findings, together with previous achievements of uni-parental reproduction in mammals, support previous speculation that genomic imprinting is the fundamental barrier to the full-term development of uni-parental mammalian embryos.
Jennifer Doudna, who won the Nobel Prize in 2020 for her groundbreaking work in gene-editing, continues to be recognized, now with a supercomputer named after her at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.
Precision breeding is a real chance to transform how we grow crops here in England. We can turbo charge the natural breeding process our farmers have used for generations to create food that's more nutritious.