Parents in the UK look set to become the first in the world to use a radical IVF technique that some critics have condemned as eugenic engineering. If approved by parliament, so called “three person IVF…
It all comes down to egg supply.
Image from shutterstock.com
We’ve known for over 50 years that reproductive ageing results in a gradual loss of fertility until about age 37, when the rate of decline accelerates dramatically. The loss of fertility is accompanied…
Women’s ability to conceive and give birth to healthy babies starts to decline before the age of 30.
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It’s said that “40 is the new 30” and “50 is the new 40”. But, when it comes to female fertility, 40 is still 40, and the likelihood of successful pregnancy and childbirth has notably decreased from age…
Reflecting on her imminent departure as head of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the body that regulates IVF and fertility services, Lisa Jardine said in an interview last week that “nobody…
It’s Nobel season and who could forget IVF pioneer Sir Robert Edwards who won the accolade for medicine in 2010? More than ever before, reproductive medicine is throwing up new treatments and answers to…
Women are generally comfortable with post-sex contraceptives but anti-abortion campaigners aren’t.
WarmSleepy
More than 50 years after Australian women first had access to the oral contraceptive pill, research into new contraceptives has stalled and women are stuck with new versions of old products to manage their…
Suffering a miscarriage can be a very distressing experience but for many women their next pregnancy is a normal one. For women, however, who suffer recurrent miscarriage, where they have three or more…
Kate Garraway: a successful older mum.
PA/Cathal McNaughton
The Get Britain Fertile “campaign”, funded by a pregnancy testing company and fronted by television presenter Kate Garraway, aims to get women to think about having children when they’re younger. But later…
A new study of mice receiving chemotherapy could enable researchers to develop and test fertility-protecting drugs. Currently…
Infertility, high blood pressure, varicose viens and back pain have been attributed to leg crossing – but what does the evidence say?
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Almost everyone crosses their legs, whether it’s conscious or unconscious, for custom, for comfort, for effect, to stop your legs splaying, to take pressure off a foot, or for no reason at all. But is…
After weeks of speculation about the contents of her uterus, it was revealed overnight that Catherine Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, is indeed pregnant. However, Catherine is in the early weeks of her…
Those who know the identity of their donor from a young age are less likely to experience psychological problems.
Ron Wiecki
University of Tasmania academic Meredith Nash recently argued on The Conversation that women who donate their eggs for fertility treatments should be financially compensated. It’s a risky and time-consuming…
What are the real aims of the pro-life movement?
AAP
An American blog by a relatively unknown author about the goals of the pro-life movement went viral recently, racking up around 100,000 hits in a mere two days. The blog questioned the selective and inconsistent…
Paying up to $5,000 in a carefully regulated market would recognise the inconveniences associated with donation.
misterbenben
Women are generally born with about a million eggs. Yet, women with reproductive problems or “older” women (over the age of 40) often cannot conceive with their own eggs. The solution is to use donor eggs…
The combined oral contraceptive pill is the most popular form of contraception in Australia and is taken by an estimated 100 million women worldwide. The pill’s most obvious use is to prevent pregnancy…
Back, sperm, back: a human egg on the tip of a pin.
Flickr/wellcome images
Elephants in the room, part two For all our schemes and mantras about making our lives environmentally “sustainable”, humanity’s assault on the planet not only continues but expands. What are the deep…
Anthropologue et démographe, professeur émérite au Muséum national d’histoire naturelle et conseiller de la direction de l'INED, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)
Director Nurture Fertility, The Fertility Parnership and Reader/Associate Professor in Reproductive Medicine and Surgery, University of Nottingham, University of Nottingham