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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[–] School_Lunch@lemmy.world 59 points 1 day ago (7 children)

I'll never understand people who complain about population decline. It's a good thing. There are too many people here already. My thought on reading the headline was that it could be used in a different way. Everyone could be voluntarily sterilized, and then when they are ready and willing to have a kid they could use this new method to produce sex cells. No more unwanted pregnancies.

[–] Mediocre_Bard@lemmy.world 104 points 1 day ago (3 children)

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

[–] DeathsEmbrace@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day 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 23 hours ago

Well of course

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (2 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 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What a succinct, compelling argument!

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 2 points 1 day ago

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

[–] Mediocre_Bard@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago

No, see, what if we just had way less people? Fuck taxes, fuck the economy, just have everyone commit to a one child policy. Yeah, I won't be able to sit on my ass and play WoW all day, but is that really helping anyone?

Responses will be delayed by WoW marathons.

[–] IhaveCrabs111@lemmy.world 2 points 19 hours ago

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

[–] SonOfAntenora@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

That's the actual setup of ergo proxy...not that they are volountarily sterilised. The whole point us the artifucial womb. I don't know if you watched it but if you haven't, do it.

[–] humanspiral@lemmy.ca 2 points 16 hours ago

Mandating that girls from age of 12 be inseminated with republican zionist sperm once per year would be more "America first" policy.

[–] catty@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

No more unwanted pregnancies.

... and no more poor stupid people (as per Musk's eugenics beliefs)

[–] 4am@lemmy.zip -1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yes, that sounds like a wonderful idea. Let’s put the reproductive future of the species under commercial and/or governmental control.

Both of those things are demonstrably trustworthy, especially in the last decade.

We should cede all control to them. Indeed.

(/s)

Are you a young naive tech bro, or a Nazi Eugenicist? Is there a difference anymore? Have you even thought about what you are saying? That’s an insane take.

[–] School_Lunch@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago

Um I never said anything about giving control to anyone... in fact I specifically said "voluntarily"... you seem like an angry person who is looking for things to be mad about. I'm not sure how you jumped to calling me a nazi.

I have thought about what I'm saying, have you? Unwanted pregnancies are something that by definition nobody wants. All I said was that this could be a way to address that, and you took that simple idea and ran to crazy town with it.