It’s a milestone that’s at once being called groundbreaking and a Pandora’s box: Scientists at Cambridge University surprised even themselves by growing embryos for 13 days outside the womb—one day short of a longstanding legal limit that’s never been pushed up against because embryos failed to survive that long. The researchers did it with only a thick blend of nutrients that mimic the womb, they report in the journal Nature Cell Biology.
Because rudimentary cell development takes place at the 14-day mark, more than a dozen countries including the US and UK restrict embryo research after that point. As Nature puts it: “After this time, the logic goes, a unique individual comes into being.” Given how difficult it is to observe this early but critical formation of life in the mother, scientists are largely in the dark about just what sort of cellular and molecular activity is taking place, reports the Telegraph.
Because rudimentary cell development takes place at the 14-day mark, more than a dozen countries including the US and UK restrict embryo research after that point. As Nature puts it: “After this time, the logic goes, a unique individual comes into being.” Given how difficult it is to observe this early but critical formation of life in the mother, scientists are largely in the dark about just what sort of cellular and molecular activity is taking place, reports the Telegraph.
