To Be Born in a Bag
7th October 2024
The womb is a remarkable organ — a muscular, pear-shaped chamber that supports the transformation of a tiny cluster of dividing cells into an entirely new person. All humans begin their lives in this sturdy chamber.
At least for now.
Several research groups are busily developing artificial wombs to replicate the basic life-support functions of the uterine environment for extremely premature infants — that is, babies born at or before 28 weeks of the typical 37-42 week pregnancy.1
At least one group is working on something altogether more radical: a system to grow a fetus from embryo to birth entirely outside the womb, a concept known as ectogenesis. And while currently being developed under the guise of helping to rescue extinct or critically endangered species, such technology could have profound implications for the future of human reproduction.
This is probably inevitable sooner or later. As with the atomic bomb, anything science can show can be done eventually will be done, by somebody; there is no cramming everything back into Pandora’s box.