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Cambridge-Caltech team of scientists claim to have created synthetic human embryos from stem cells at conference; work not yet published
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- Title
- Synthetic human embryos created in groundbreaking advance
- Authors
- Hannah Devlin
- Published
- Jun 14 2023
- Word count
- 806 words
Reading things like this I wish I had the knowledge to know if this is actually significant or just headlines
Think about it this way...
An embryo was the second stage in making you.
And scientists can now manufacture an embryo in the laboratory, just by using a scraping of someone's skin (because they know how to convert a skin cell into a stem cell).
Also, because there was no conception or fertilisation in creating this embryo, no sperm and no egg, no father and no mother, the ethics of using these embryos for study and experimentation are more flexible. These artificial embryos might be scientifically useful, and obviate the need for natural embryos to experiment with.
I do wonder if the ethical considerations of experimenting on embryos still apply though. Even if they “artificial” I’m not entirely sure the issues would really be any different.
Not saying I’m necessarily against it but I’m just not sure it’s so clear cut.
It's a weird thing to think.
Imagine if we can keep going and form a full human being. For people who believe in the supernatural and souls, does this one have a human soul?
What about consciousness? Of course it will be conscious, but it is right to call it "artificial"? It would be treating like less of an human being.
It it ever goes that far I would say it's a full human with rights and everything. Maybe more of a clone then artificial insemination.
Yes, I agree. It is a full human with rights.
But it will short-circuit the brain of a lot of people and create a new type of discrimination.
Oooo for sure, but I don't think there will be tube babies walking around. At least I hope not. Will start a master race arms race.
It's not clear cut. Not at all.
With naturally fertilised embryos, the ethics are clear cut: it's a person, and should not be experimented on. With these artificially generated embryos, the ethics are not as clear cut.
I would not say it's a person, that gets into when does a "life" begin. The big issue is they are limited currently on the real deal to a few weeks before they have to destroy it. With it being made in a lab, they might be allowed to let it go further. Then we get into human cloning and slaves if they can "birth" one of these embryos.
Note: Not peer reviewed science - just a talk at a conference. This can turn into a nothingburger.
The title is a little overly clickbaity.
I can edit the title if someone can suggest an alternative title that is less clickbaity.
“Cambridge-Caltech team of scientists claim to have created synthetic human embryos from stem cells at conference; work not yet published or reviewed”?
It’s on the wordy side, but it has the important details.
Isn’t saying not published and not peer reviewed a bit redundant, since you can’t have the latter without the former? I edited the title to your suggestion but left that final part out. Let me know if that’s better. cc: @Maxi
Could be, I’m not familiar enough with the process to say. I just wanted to cover the bases.
Me either. :P So if anyone here is more familiar, please feel free to suggest any additional corrections or suggestions.