8 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATEDScientists have for the first time produced
an initial-stage embryo without the use of
either sperm or eggs. Scientists from the Salk
Institute for Biological Studies produced stem cells
using cells from adult mice, and those cells very soon
began to divide in the same way as they would after
natural fertilisation. We still don’t know very much
about how life originates in a fertilised egg, and
scientists hope that the discovery will provide new
knowledge about these first stages of life, when
one cell divides to become millions of cells.New life: early-stage embryo
grown from stem cellsPhoto // Waitt Advanced Biophotonics Core Facility
SAL
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MEGAPIXEL STEM CELLS