Ask a sixteen-year-old about a social media ban, and you get an answer sharper than most adults arguing about bans. She says, “It doesn’t prepare us for the real world when we will have to deal with these distractions in our life”. The teenager’s response strikes at the core of the ban vs
How I got hooked on chasing solar eclipses Traveling the globe for celestial events may seem downright loony—until you get a taste of the addictive world of ‘eclipse chasing’ Published on: Aug 23, 2026, 18:30:10 IST WSJ Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link ‘It was glorious
Made-in-India semiconductor chips are now powering key Indian space missions. These domestically manufactured components support lunar and solar exploration efforts. Specialized chips from Mohali's Semiconductor Laboratory are used in Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya-L1
India's space program began with a small rocket range in 1962. It progressed to launching its first satellite and developing indigenous launch vehicles. Chandrayaan-3's lunar landing marked a significant achievement for the nation. The program now includes private sector involvement and ambitious
India plans to establish its own space station by the year 2035. The first module for the Bharatiya Antariksha Station has already received approval. This ambitious project aligns with the nation's growing space capabilities and aspirations. National Space Day celebrates India's achievements and
A new technique can turn a woman’s skin cells into eggs
MANY COUPLES struggle to conceive. In vitro fertilisation (IVF) can help some, but if the woman has no usable eggs to fertilise, they must either give up or use an egg donor. Researchers have therefore worked for years to create eggs for women who lack them. So far they have succeeded only in mice, but that could be about to change. In a paper just published in Nature Communications, a group of researchers report they have—albeit imperfectly—created fertilisable human eggs from skin cells.
Previous efforts focused on in vitro gametogenesis (IVG). This transforms skin cells into stem cells, which can then turn into other sorts of cells. But transforming stem cells into egg cells is particularly complicated. A team led by Shoukhrat Mitalipov from the Oregon Health & Science University have therefore revived another approach: the somatic-cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) method used to create Dolly the sheep. But they have added a twist.
First, they obtained egg cells from volunteers and removed their nuclei. They then harvested skin cells from other volunteers, cultured them and let individual cells from the culture fuse with the de-nucleated eggs.
Had they sought to clone the skin-cell donors—which they did not, not least because it would be illegal in most countries—they could now have nudged the re-nucleated eggs to become embryos. But infertile couples want to have babies together, not clone themselves. That presents a technical hurdle. Most human cells have 46 chromosomes, but eggs and sperm have only 23, so that when they fuse, the resulting embryo will have the correct number of chromosomes overall. The skin nuclei that went into the eggs delivered 46 chromosomes, leaving no room for any genetic material from a sperm.
Dr Mitalipov's team therefore needed to jettison half the implanted chromosomes. They did so by hijacking the process of cell division, which takes place in one of two ways, meiosis and mitosis. Meiosis, which happens in cells that give rise to sperm and eggs, produces cells with 23 chromosomes. Mitosis, which occurs in all other cells, imparts 46—achieved by first doubling the number of chromosomes in a cell, and then divvying them up between two identical daughter cells.
By using the skin cells' nuclei right before the chromosome doubling, and then making them divide early once inside the eggs, Dr Mitalipov's team managed to initiate what they call mitomeiosis—a kind of cell division that forces nuclei which would normally undergo mitosis to produce the 23 chromosomes required for a fertilisable egg. They created 82 SCNT eggs this way, and fertilised these with sperm. Five went on to the stage of embryonic development known as a blastocyst before the experiment was terminated.
It is “a remarkable achievement”, says Evelyn Telfer, a reproductive biologist at the University of Edinburgh, but there is a long way to go before this kind of process could be used for human reproduction. For one thing, most of the eggs involved did not develop—a problem considering the method relies on egg cells taken from donors, a complex and invasive procedure.
A bigger issue, argues Tony Perry of the University of Bath, is that Dr Mitalipov's team had no control over how the chromosome number was reduced. Embryos must have the correct pairing between chromosomes, as well as the correct number. There must be one pair of chromosome 1, one pair of chromosome 2 and so forth. But, says Dr Mitalipov, “our system kind of makes errors” in that pairing. On average only about half the pairs match up, he says.
That is top of his list to fix. His team is studying exactly what happens during meiosis, so that they can recapitulate it in mitomeiosis. This is one reason why he says offering the new procedure to childless couples is still a far-off vision. Like all reproductive treatments, it will also require years of public discussion to pin down ethical questions such as who should be eligible and what to do with surplus embryos.
Whether eggs from skin become a reality, and whether stem cells or SCNT will prove the more effective approach, remain to be seen. Despite years of research huge gaps remain in understanding of human reproduction. But there is no lack of enthusiasm. At least one (secretive) startup, called Conception Bio, is pursuing IVG. Hayashi Katsuhiko, a geneticist from the University of Osaka and a pioneer of the stem-cell approach, recently said that researching how to make eggs has started to feel “like being in a race”. With two competing approaches, it does appear that way—even if the finish line is not yet in sight.
Get 360° coverage—from daily headlines
to 100 year archives.
Source: HindustanTimes
Related Posts: IVF,egg donor,human eggs,skin cells,reproductive treatments
India observed its third National Space Day, commemorating the Chandrayaan-3 lunar landing. ISRO Chairman Dr. V. Narayanan recalled the agency's humble beginnings and current global standing. He highlighted Chandrayaan-3's soft landing near the Moon's south pole in August 2023
1 days ago
The Indian government created the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) to offer students an intellectually vibrant research environment and to bring them into research at a relatively — vis-à-vis the Indian milieu — early stage
1 days ago
Prime Minister Narendra Modi aims to lure global expertise to India's expanding space landscape. He identifies the private sector's potential as a crucial asset for global competition. Key advantages include India’s affordability and its appetite for innovation
1 days ago
The Northeast India Space Workshop 2026 will convene in Guwahati to explore regional transformation. This event aims to leverage space technology for global reach and economic growth. Stakeholders will discuss Northeast India becoming a developer and testbed for space solutions
1 days ago
The dramatic 1° Celsius rise in global temperatures since industrialisation has already proved to have upended the lives of wild flora and fauna: that of at least 15,801 species on the Red List of Threatened Species, according to IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)
2 days ago
India faces a substantial cost gap with the United States for launching payloads. A recent study estimates India's cost at over $13,000 per kilogram by 2025. This contrasts with the United States' estimated cost of $3,225 per kilogram. The study highlights scale and experience as key factors for
2 days ago
Prime Minister Narendra Modi encouraged young space entrepreneurs to innovate for agriculture and daily life. He highlighted the potential of India's private space sector for global impact. Startups were urged to engage with schools and inspire future generations
2 days ago
Rock-solid evidence for the origins of birds Stones in dinosaur stomachs may help understanding of avian evolution Published on: Aug 20, 2026, 21:09:09 IST The Economist Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link How do you know what a dinosaur ate? Guts rot away after death
3 days ago
Was it meat or glucose that fueled the growth of the human brain? If evolutionary science told us, hitherto, that human brain expansion relied on meat to grow, a new study has an interesting addition to this theory. Published in a recent issue of Science
4 days ago
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to launch the GISAT-1A satellite in September, in a mission that will be watched closely for many important reasons. Since the two successive PSLV mission failures, in 2025 and early 2026, ISRO had paused launches as it investigated the reason
4 days ago
The Hara forests are a vital ecological treasure of the Persian Gulf. Spanning the Strait of Hormuz, these mangrove forests consist mainly of grey mangrove trees (Avicennia marina), which have a special filtration system in their roots that allows them to thrive in saline conditions
5 days ago
India spends more to put a kilogram of payload into orbit than any other major spacefaring nation, marring its public image as a cost-effective launcher, according to a new peer-reviewed analysis of more than six decades of rocket launches published in Economics Letters
7 days ago
“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there,” the English novelist L.P. Hartley wrote famously in his 1953 novel The Go-Between. In a peculiar twist, the same cannot be said of the Moon. It is not a foreign country, or even a foreign world: the U.S
7 days ago
The computer did not create a virus. It did not touch a test tube or handle a living cell. What it did may ultimately be more consequential: it helped decide what the virus’s genome should be. Researchers at Stanford University and the Arc Institute used artificial intelligence (AI) to design
8 days ago
Spectators across Spain watched in wonder, some whipping off their protective glasses and rising to their feet in unison, as a rare total solar eclipse swept across the north of the country on Wednesday (August 12, 2026) evening, plunging it into darkness
8 days ago
Japan's MMX mission will blast off soon to collect Martian moon samples. The spacecraft will orbit Mars for three years and land on Phobos. This mission aims to understand Solar System origins and life's emergence. A rival Chinese mission also plans to return Mars samples around 2031
8 days ago
Draft rules for the SHANTI Act, 2025, mandate financial security for nuclear damage. Operators must maintain insurance or financial security until spent fuel removal. Foreign reactor designs require certification by their country of origin's regulatory body
9 days ago
As a total solar eclipse will be visible in parts of Europe on August 12 for the first time since 1999, solar physicists at the Raman Research Institute (RRI) in Bengaluru, along with collaborators, have predicted the magnetic structure of the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or its ‘crown’
9 days ago
When a young man was brought to my clinic after his first episode of psychosis, his parents wanted to know when he could return to college. This is not an atypical first interaction. However, in many instances, after a few consultations later and especially once the immediate crisis had settled
11 days ago
Some people can live apparently ordinary lives even when both copies of a gene (one inherited from the mother and the other from the father) have stopped working. Until their DNA is sequenced, they may never know that this has happened. A large study from Pakistan, published in Nature (June 2026)
11 days ago
Physicist Deepak Dhar received the 2026 Dirac Medal for his statistical mechanics work. He shares the award with three other scientists for their complex systems research. Their contributions span biology, finance, computer science, and artificial intelligence
12 days ago
Colombia and Venezuela experienced deadly earthquakes due to tectonic plate friction. The Nazca plate sliding beneath the South American plate caused tremors. Earthquake magnitude and depth significantly influenced the destructive impact. Building codes and terrain also played crucial roles in the
12 days ago
India has been invited to join NASA's Moon Base program. Discussions focused on expanding civil and commercial space cooperation. Both nations agreed to advance open scientific data sharing under Artemis Accords. They also reaffirmed commitment to UN guidelines for outer space sustainability
12 days ago
A team led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine has found that several inherited traits in the mouse genome break the rules Gregor Mendel laid down in the 19th century about how genes work. This is not because the genes mutate but because of chemical modifications of the genome
13 days ago
Urban India’s water emergency will not be fixed by better crisis management alone. Over the coming decades, hundreds of millions more people will live and work in Indian cities, driving a sharp increase in the urban water demand. And unless we change how we design, finance
15 days ago
IN-SPACe seeks private partners to manage ISRO's new launch complex. This facility will support small rocket launches and enhance launch efficiency. Private entities will handle end-to-end operations and maintenance of the complex. ISRO will provide initial technical and operational support for
15 days ago
NASA astronauts Anil Menon and Jessica Meir on Friday (August 6, 2026) concluded their spacewalk outside the International Space Station to assemble the modification kit for its power channel that would allow addition of solar arrays. The spacewalk – 281st in support of the space station –
15 days ago
