The birds and the bees talk may need an upgrade soon. Scientists are working on ways to use blood and skin cells to replace sperm and eggs. So, will sex go by the wayside?
Karen Weintraub writes about the science behind these headlines in Scientific American. She says we are still years away from human babies being created with eggs and sperm. So far scientists have only created eggs out of skin cells from mice.
The idea of creating babies without parents will likely raise a number of ethical and cultural questions. Weintraub says the scientific studies are still in such early stages that they haven't begun to receive cultural scrutiny.
The CDC released a report with troubling statistics about the number of reported syphilis cases in newborns, with cases rising 10-fold in the last decade and nearly 32% in just one year.
