How far away are we from asexual reproduction outside of the human body (ex utero)? Maybe only 10-30 years. Humans are transcending nature.
About 3 years ago, I speculated here about the state of artificial wombs and ectogenesis.
I think, the MIT Technology Review is disingenuous to make this article about transgender men, while the featured reproductive scientist Evelyn Telfer's research is not directly related to transgender humans. See e.g. two of her latest published articles (on which this MIT TR article is possibly be based):
Wikipedia about Evelyn Telfer: "She leads a research team which has successfully grown immature human eggs to maturity in the lab, and discovered that human ovaries are capable of growing new eggs."
"Ovaries contain hundreds of thousands of underdeveloped eggs, held in a kind of suspended animation. Each month, one matures and is released—potentially to be fertilized by sperm and create an embryo. For the first time, scientists say they have managed to take eggs from the ovaries of transgender men and get them ready for fertilization in a process completed entirely outside the body.
The achievement, carried out by a team led by Evelyn Telfer, a reproductive biologist at the University of Edinburgh, suggests that viable eggs can be obtained from transgender men even after years of testosterone therapy, which can stop ovulation.
While freezing eggs is an option for transgender men who want children, this typically involves stopping testosterone treatment and allowing a menstrual cycle to return. This can take months and cause fatigue, mood changes, and sleep problems. The need for vaginal probes can prove particularly distressing for transgender men.
Telfer and her colleagues’ alternative involves taking eggs from the ovaries and maturing them outside the body, in the lab. This new technique could not only help transgender men but also many others struggling to concieve."
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