Category Archives: Assisted reproductive technology

Androgenic Anxiety and COVID-19

Early this morning, January 1, 2021, three minutes after midnight, the last human being to be born on earth was killed … Thus begins Children of Men, a dystopian novel by P.D. James (1992). A sudden and unexplained loss of … Continue reading

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About Giant Eggs & Double Yolks

This week’s gift from a neighbor’s chicken coop included one extra-large egg. After hard-boiling and cracking open we found a double yolk, which some say is a good omen on our wedding anniversary. The following conversation over a meal would … Continue reading

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Elegy for a Significant Speck (frozen eggs and embryos)

Two American fertility clinics reported freezers failing last month, and had thawed to an undisclosed degree. This rare event shocked hundreds of patients who were storing embryos, eggs and ovarian tissue. Maybe it was the equipment that failed or a … Continue reading

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Demography of IVF and World Population

Predicting the future is fickle, as Stephen Hawking once observed: “it exists only as a spectrum of possibilities.” And, yet, divining the future is irresistible and physicists strive to forecast the future of stars, black holes and climate. Biologists are … Continue reading

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Human Egg Farming

We called the ambitious program, ‘Egg Farming,’ over 30 years ago when I worked at Edinburgh University. That goal drew a step closer today as my graduate student from so many years ago published results of growing human eggs in … Continue reading

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