The craziest thing I learned today is that scientists can now create artificial human embryos without using sperm, egg or a womb. This may sound like science fiction, but it’s science fact! The team at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science has created complete models of human embryos from human stem cells cultured in the lab – and managed to grow them outside the womb up to day 14. They hope this could help better understand genetic diseases, and even to grow transplant organs. But it also raises some ethical questions: what will happen if humans can create embryos that have no biological parents?

Questions for Discussion

1. What can be the pros and cons of creating human embryos without sperm or egg? Do you support it?
2. Do you think there should be limits on how far scientists can go in developing artificial embryos?
3. If science could one day grow such an embryo and produce a living human being, what would the implications be?
4. How might the creation of embryos without biological parents challenge our current legal and social definitions of parenthood and family?