National Public Radio
Scientists have created living entities that resemble very primitive human embryos, the most advanced example of these structures yet created in a lab.
The researchers hope these creations, made from human embryonic stem cells, will provide crucial new insights into human development and lead to new ways to treat infertility and prevent miscarriages, birth defects and many diseases. The researchers say this is the first timescientists have created living models of human embryos with three-dimensional structures.
The researchers reported their findings Monday in a paper published in the journal Nature Cell Biology.
But the research is stirring debate about how far scientists should go in creating living models of human embryos, sometimes called embryoids. . . [Full text]