News

Is Artificial Life Moving Any Closer?
Greg Bear, Nature, November 2007
Jessica Riskin's new book Genesis Redux gathers together papers from a rousing academic conference held in Stanford in 2003, and Beyond Human offers a critical but enthusiastic view from a physics and biological perspective.
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In the Name of the Father
Jim Ritter, Chicago Sun-Times, November 27, 2007
Art Kessler wanted to be a father, but worried he might pass on a single terrible gene. Two expensive new treatments have dramatically transformed Kessler's life by ensuring that Kessler and his wife could have a baby that would not inherit his disease.
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Art in America
Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow, The Nation, November 26, 2007
Americans are coming to terms with how new reproductive technologies square with common perceptions of reproductive rights.
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Anger Over Plans to Cut Fathers Out of Fertility Laws
James Chapman, Daily Mail, November 8, 2007
Labour MPs are preparing to revolt over Government plans to declare fathers an irrelevance in a major shake-up of Britain's fertility laws.
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Security, Liberties Clash in 'Strange Culture'
Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times, November 9, 2007
An artist's plight in the face of the War on Terror sounds the alarm for Americans to ponder the curtailment of freedom of expression.
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ART in America
Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow, The Nation, November 8, 2007
This review looks at the history of assisted reproductive technology in the United States, from the first "test tube baby" to the moral-political crises of late.
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Fertility Centers of Illinois (FCI) Offers Two Free IVF Cycles in Support of National Infertility Awareness Week
Business Wire, November 6, 2007
18th Annual National Infertility Awareness Week taking place November 4th-10th, Fertility Centers of Illinois is offering a free In-Vitro Fertilization cycle valued at $10,000, to two deserving infertile couples in need of IVF but unable to afford it.
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Play Probes Problems of Playing God
Dan Pearson, Pioneer Local, October 18, 2007
Opera, ethics and eugenics collide in the Apple Tree Theatre production of "Twilight Of The Golds," running Oct. 17-Nov. 11 in Highland Park, Illinois.
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Embryo Screening 'Doesn't Improve' Pregnancy Success
Brendan Maher, Nature.com, October 17, 2007
Two major societies in reproductive medicine have announced that screening for general genetic flaws in 'test-tube' embryos before they are implanted in the womb does not improve the chances of having a healthy baby, and so should not be promoted.
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Career Women Warned Against Egg Freezing
Mark Henderson, Times Online, October 17, 2007
An influencial group of doctors has said that IVF clinics should not market egg-freezing services to young women as a method of preserving their fertility for future decades.
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"Personalized" Embryonic Stem Cells for Sale
Emily Singer, Technology Review, August 30, 2007
A company in California called StemLifeLine has announced that it will offer a service to generate stem cells from excess frozen embryos stored after in vitro fertilization (IVF).
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BeliefWatch: Reincarnate
Matthew Philips, Newsweek, August 20-27, 2007
In one of history's more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission.
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More U.S. Women Dying in Childbirth
MSNBC.com, August 24, 2007
U.S. women are dying from childbirth at the highest rate in decades, new government figures show. Though the risk of death is very small, experts believe increasing maternal obesity and a jump in Caesarean sections are partly to blame.
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Science and art meet this year at the Rose Art Museum
Dan Snyder, The Justice, August 28, 2007
This fall, the focus of the Rose Art Museum will be on a subject familiar to the Brandeis community: scientific research.
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Artificial Life Likely in 3 to 10 Years
AP, The New York Times, August 20, 2007
Around the world, a handful of scientists are trying to create life from scratch and they're getting closer.
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Japan Scientists Devise "Womb" for IVF Eggs
Tan Ee Lyn, Reuters, July 27, 2007
Scientists in Japan have created a "womb" for incubating artificially fertilized eggs, helping them grow nearly as fast as they would in the uterus.
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Couples with Leftover Embryos Face Ethical, Legal Dilemma
Yonat Shimron, McClatchy Newspapers, July 27, 2007
Increasingly, couples undergoing IVF are faced with the dilemma of what to do with their unused embryos.
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Womb-on-a-chip May Boost IVF Successes
Linda Geddes, NewScientist.com, July 26, 2007
Teruo Fujii of the University of Tokyo in Japan and his colleagues are building a microfluidic chip to nurture the first stages of pregnancy. They claim that such a device could improve the success rate of IVF.
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PGD and the Human Tissue and Embryos (Draft) Bill
John Gillott, BioNews.co.uk, June 11, 2007
In this commentary, the author discusses the UK's Draft Human Tissue and Embryos Bill, and the uses of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD).
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Winston: IVF Clinics Corrupt and Greedy
Alok Jha, The Guardian, May 31, 2007
Britain's leading fertility expert condemned the IVF industry yesterday, saying that it had been corrupted by money and that doctors were exploiting women who were desperate to get pregnant.
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Her Embryos or His?
Kevin Sack, The Los Angeles Times, May 30, 2007
A divorcing Houston couple is legally disputing the fate of three frozen embryos.
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Women May be Able to Grow Own Sperm
Roger Highfield, The Daily Telegraph, April 13, 2007
Women could one day be able produce sperm, according to a scientist who claims to have turned bone marrow into early-stage sperm cells.
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Her First Child is a First
Yvonne Villarreal, Los Angeles Times, April 13, 2007
The first baby conceived in the United States by means of frozen sperm and a frozen egg has been born.
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Bone Stem Cells Turned into Primitive Sperm Cells
Roxanne Khamsi, NewScientist.com, April 13, 2007
In a first step toward the creation of artificial sperm, researchers have turned human bone marrow tissue into primitive sperm cells.
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Woman Loses Battle to Use Frozen Embryos Created with Her Ex-fiancé
Clare Dyer and Karen McVeigh, The Guardian, April 11, 2007
Following a five-year court battle, a British woman has lost her fight to use frozen embryos created her ex-fiancé argued.
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UK Woman Loses Appeal over Embryos
MSN News, April 11, 2007
A British woman has lost her legal battle to implant frozen embryos fertilized by her former partner, who no longer wants her to have his baby.
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Ruddock Calls for National Surrogacy Law
ABC News Online, April 6, 2007
Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says he will urge his state counterparts to adopt uniform laws to deal with surrogate parenthood.
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The Lost Girls
Douglas A. Sylva, The Weekly Standard, March 21, 2007
The Bush Administration introduced a resolution condemning the killing of girls, because they are female. Such acts include old-fashioned infanticide, as well as the increasingly popular use of technology to identify and eliminate female embryos before they are born - using what is called "sex-selective abortion."
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Gay Male Parents Get Dedicated Fertility Program
Jill Serjeant, Reuters, March 14, 2007
A Los Angeles fertility clinic has launched what it claims is the first program dedicated to serving gay men wanting to become parents.
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Donor Recruitment: Is "Tackiness" the Answer?
Eric Blyth, BioNews.org.uk, March 2007
The author argues that the "Give a Toss" sperm donor program is provocatively tacky, designed to reach potential sperm donors that other methods have failed to reach, although ironically perpetuating the very stereotype of sperm donation that there was a previous attempt to dispel.
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Increase in Egg Donors Raises Concerns
Martha Irvine, The Associated Press, February 19, 2007
Human egg donation was a rarity not so long ago. But heightened demand for eggs -- and rising compensation for donors -- are prompting more young women to consider it.
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Sperm Donor Father Ends His Anonymity
Amy Harmon, The New York Times, February 14, 2007
There is no established ritual for how an anonymous sperm donor should contact his genetic children. But for Jeffrey Harrison, Valentine's Day seemed as good an occasion as any.
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Girl or Boy? As Fertility Technology Advances, So Does an Ethical Debate
Denise Grady, New York Times, February 6, 2007
The medical profession is divided about health care personnel aiding parents in choosing their baby's sex.
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Expand Prenatal Gene Tests, MDs Urge
Carolyn Abraham, The Globe and Mail, February 6, 2007
Recommendations raise fear of having only "perfect" babies.
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Rent-a-womb in India Fuels Surrogate Motherhood Debate
Krittivas Mukherjee, Reuters, February 5, 2007
Surrogate motherhood is among the latest in a long list of roles being outsourced to India, where so-called "rent-a-womb" services are far less expensive than in the West.
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Family of Dead Israeli Soldier Can Use His Sperm
MSNBC.com, January 29, 2007
In a precedent-setting decision, an Israeli court ruled that a dead soldier's family can use his sperm to impregnate a woman he never met.
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Rebate Plan for Eggs Cracks Open an Ethics Mess
Arthur Caplan, MSNBC.com, January 22, 2007
Some British scientists propose offering rebates to women seeking infertility services in exchange for giving up some of their eggs for use in stem-cell research.
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Idea of 'Designer' Babies with Defective Genes Stirs Ethics Questions
CNN.com, January 19, 2007
Creating made-to-order babies with genetic defects would seem to be an ethical minefield, but to some parents with conditions, such as deafness or dwarfism, it just means making babies like them.
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The Embryo Factory
William Saletan, Slate.com, January 15, 2007
New businesses are making and selling human embryos from handpicked donors. According to the FDA, this does not appear to violate any rules within its purview.
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First U.S. Uterus Transplant Planned
Rob Stein, Washington Post, January 15, 2007
Doctors are planning the first womb transplant in the United States. A team based in Manhattan has begun screening women left barren by cancer, injuries or other problems who want a chance to bear their own children.
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Pursuing a Baby to the Ends of the Earth
Suz Refearn, Washington Post, January 14, 2007
After spending $70,000 on unsuccessful fertility treatments, a Virginia couple resorted to "reproductive tourism" for one last shot at pregnancy.
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FDA Investigates Embryo Business
Elizabeth White, Seattle Times, January 13, 2007
Federal officials are investigating a business that produces batches of ready-made embryos and lets prospective parents select one based on the donors' looks, ethnicity, education, and other factors.
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