The tool is currently being trialled in a group of research volunteers and is not yet generally available. But I hope it means a step towards more transparency and openness about the true costs and benefits of egg freezing. Yes, it’s a remarkable technology that can help people become parents. But it may not be the best option for everyone.
Read more from the Tech Review archive
Anna Louie Sussman had her eggs frozen in Italy and Spain because services in New York were too expensive. Fortunately, specialized couriers are on hand to take frozen germ cells on international travel, she wrote.
Michele Harrison was 41 when she froze 21 of her eggs. By the time she wanted to use them, two years later, only one was viable. Although she had a baby, her case shows that egg freezing does not guarantee parenthood, Bonnie Rochman wrote.
What happens if someone dies with eggs in storage? Frozen eggs and sperm can still be used to create new life, but figuring out who can make the decision is tricky, as I wrote in a previous edition of The Checkup.
Meanwhile, the race is on to create lab-made eggs and sperm. These cells, which can be made from a person’s blood or skin cells, could potentially solve many fertility problems — should they ever prove to be safe, as I wrote in an article for last year’s issue of the journal on gender.
Researchers are also working on ways to mature eggs from transgender men in the lab, allowing them to store and use their eggs without interrupting gender-confirming medical care or going through other potentially distressing procedures, as I wrote last year.
From all over the internet
The World Health Organization will decide whether covid still represents a “public health emergency of international concern”. It will probably decide to keep this status, due to the current outbreak in China. (STAT)
Researchers want to study the brains, genes and other biological characteristics of incarcerated people to find ways to prevent them from reoffending. Others warn that this approach is based on bad science and racist ideas. (Undark)
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