Childbearing-2050
What will replace pregnancy
Sergey Kolenov, Hi-tech+
People are used to treating pregnancy as the only way to have children. However, it is possible that artificial wombs will appear in this century, bearing embryos better than real women – and without harm to health. This will be a turning point in the history of mankind.
Many science fiction books and films describe a society of the future in which people have abandoned natural pregnancy and use various technical devices for procreation. For example, in the famous novel by Aldous Huxley "Brave New World", children grow up in "bottles". And in the Matrix film trilogy, the machines that enslaved people gather new people in huge factories.
Today, such scenarios remain fiction. However, the development of science and technology will make artificial wombs and incubators for embryos a reality sooner than we think, according to Medical Futurist (Will We Be Born in 2050?). And then the development of humanity will change forever.
The first step to this is the development of transplantology. More than a dozen children in the USA, Sweden and Serbia have already been born to mothers with a donor uterus received from their closest relatives.
And at the end of 2018, the pregnancy of a woman who had the uterus of a deceased donor transplanted successfully ended.
The development of an artificial uterus also does not stand still. In the spring of 2017, a research group led by Emily Partridge demonstrated a device for carrying lambs' embryos – a transparent plastic container filled with nutrient fluid. Eight embryos aged from 105 to 115 days were kept alive in it for four weeks, which corresponds to a 23-week-old human fetus. Similar experiments were successfully conducted by researchers from Japan.
Experiments with artificial uterus and animal embryos will last another two years, after which the device will be tested on extremely premature human embryos.
If successful, artificial wombs will help many premature babies to come out. However, they can be applied in another way.
For example, infertile or same-sex couples will have the opportunity to have children without resorting to the services of surrogate mothers. Perhaps some women who can get pregnant will also choose artificial gestation. This will save them from many difficulties associated with pregnancy – from weight gain to postpartum depression.
Real-time development
In the most optimistic version of the technology development, an artificial uterus will become a tool for constant monitoring of the embryo's health. With the help of artificial intelligence systems, she will assess his needs and change the system settings accordingly. And doctors and nurses will have access to complete information about the future child – from his genome to health risks.
Perhaps artificial gestation will spread simultaneously with cloning and the creation of "designer babies".
Nevertheless, there are a number of problems that need to be solved before humanity at least partially abandons the natural birth of children. For example, it should be found out whether children from an artificial uterus will differ from ordinary ones from a physical and intellectual point of view and whether it will not be traumatic for them to go out into the environment.
If an artificial uterus is necessary for the care of premature babies, then an artificial placenta from stem cells is an important scientific model that will tell scientists how pregnancy goes and why miscarriages occur. Specialists from different countries are working on its creation – for example, the UK and Austria.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru