It gets its name from the fact that scientists are only permitted to grow human embryos in the lab for a maximum of 14 days legally.
Source: The Brighter Side of News
Researchers at the University of Cambridge and the California Institute of Technology, who jointly created the embryo-like structure, claim that it can aid in the understanding of genetic diseases and the biological causes of recurrent miscarriages, though they acknowledge that their discovery has not yet been evaluated by peers and that much more research must be done to understand the full range of prospects.
However, what’s more significant is that the development calls into question how human embryos should be created, especially after the first 14-day window. A similar experiment on monkeys in China ended in failure, but the Weizmann Institute in Israel successfully implanted embryo-like models created from mouse stem cells into a female mouse’s womb last year. Their artificial models, however, have acquired characteristics like a digestive system, embryonic brain cells, and a beating heart.
Source: FRANCE 24 English
The most recent discovery does increase the chance that more study on the problem might eventually result in the creation of a living organism from the synthetic embryo. It presents a compelling argument in favour of strict legislation to stop malpractices.
It is impossible to overstate the significance of scientific discoveries, but given all the implications, the accompanying ethical and legal difficulties should be resolved as quickly as possible.
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