this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2025
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Quest to create viable human sex cells in lab progressing rapidly, with huge implications for reproduction

Scientists are just a few years from creating viable human sex cells in the lab, according to an internationally renowned pioneer of the field, who says the advance could open up biology-defying possibilities for reproduction.

Speaking to the Guardian, Prof Katsuhiko Hayashi, a developmental geneticist at the University of Osaka, said rapid progress is being made towards being able to transform adult skin or blood cells into eggs and sperm, a feat of genetic conjury known as in-vitro gametogenesis (IVG).

His own lab is about seven years away from the milestone, he predicts. Other frontrunners include a team at the University of Kyoto and a California-based startup, Conception Biosciences, whose Silicon Valley backers include the OpenAI founder, Sam Altman and whose CEO told the Guardian that growing eggs in the lab “might be the best tool we have to reverse population decline” and could pave the way for human gene editing.

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[–] Mediocre_Bard@lemmy.world 92 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Population decline is not a problem for humanity. It is a problem for capitalism.

[–] IhaveCrabs111@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago

People would have lots of kids if each subsequent child didn’t make their existing family’s life much more difficult

[–] DeathsEmbrace@lemmy.world 9 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

Even worse they're probably looking at the projection and seeing a loss of revenue directly related to population rates. They want more sheep to feed their money making systems.

[–] Onyxonblack@lemmy.zip 1 points 8 hours ago

Well of course

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 3 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Depopulation is a problem for any economic system. You can't run any form of government or economy when young workers aren't contributing to the tax base and the aging population requires more and more care.

Sure as clockwork someone will come along and say tax the rich. That only works for so long in this scenario. The rich get rich off our backs. No backs, no rich.

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)
[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 2 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

What a succinct, compelling argument!

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 3 points 12 hours ago

Alright, ill do a mostly complete argument. Define depopulation please :3