The recipe for mammalian life is simple: take an egg, add sperm and wait. But two new papers demonstrate that there’s another way. Under the right conditions, stem cells can divide and self-organize into an embryo. In studies published in Cell and Nature recently, two groups report that they have grown synthetic mouse embryos for 8.5 days, longer than ever before. The embryos developed distinct organs — a beating heart, a gut tube and even neural folds.

Research is being conducted at University of Cambridge, UK, and the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

For more information: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-02334-2