Making babies from skin cells? Trials in mice raise questions

New York

NEARLY 40 years after the world was jolted by the birth of the first test-tube baby, another revolution in reproductive technology is on the horizon - and it promises to be far more controversial than in-vitro fertilisation ever was.

Within a decade or two, researchers say, scientists could be able to create a baby from human skin cells that have been coaxed to grow into eggs and sperm and used to create embryos to implant in a womb.