In a letter to the scientific journal Nature last week, Kim Nasmyth and Dieter Schweizer tell how plans are in place to reinstate the monastery at Brno in the Czech Republic, where Gregor Mendel made his discoveries about genetics. The monastery contains the Mendel museum, which was previously reported to...
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts has declared that a couple who used a surrogate to carry their twins can be recognised as the children's legal parents from the moment of birth. The seven judges' unanimous ruling also urged the state legislature to make new laws 'to address the medical...
A bill approved last week by a subcommittee of the US Senate would allow limited federally financed stem cell research, and give President Bush discretion over how to control this. The proposal, put forward by Republican senator Arlen Specter as part of a spending bill, would allow Bush to follow...
A story published in this week's Sunday Times alleges that a London doctor fathered more than 100 children following artificial insemination (AI). It is said that the late Derek Richter, a neuropsychologist, donated sperm on many occasions between 1945 and 1951, for use by Mary Barton, a doctor who 'pioneered...
A contraceptive pill that can be used by both men and women might one day become available. Scientists in the US have discovered that sperm that are starved of calcium become sluggish, unable to swim well, and unable to penetrate an egg. They believe that the discovery may lead to...
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Comment
Decision on surrogacy both good and bad
by Professor Kirsty Horsey
This week's edition of BioNews reports that a Massachusetts court has ruled that the commissioning couple in a surrogacy arrangement can be named as the parents on the birth certificate of their twins. The judges claimed that their unanimous decision was aimed at 'bringing the law in line with advances...