Baby Season

Since it is spring and the time of year for new births, here is a slant with a very unusual perspective. The impetus is from a science article in Extreme Tech and comments on the relatively new world of stem cell research. In short - stem cell work can take any healthy cell and convert it into working organ tissue from/ or for any part of the body. The exception being egg or sperm cells which need a fully developed being.

Until now! Lest we get too excited, it is a much more complex process. It takes a more "controlled' environment which pushes the cells in very specific directions rather than just allowing them to evolve on their own. But there are definite possibilities that it can be done. Labs can create a sperm protege cell which would then need to be incubated in an actual male where they could then mature into fully functioning ones.

This further complicates the ethical dilemma that is stem cell research. A couple that has fertility issues could now rear their own children again. A deceased father could technically father an heir for a child. Some fanatic could pull a hair from a piece of clothing and conger up a child from a celebrity encounter. The myriad is baffling. Could you, but would you?

Extreme Tech