I’ve Moved!
November 20, 2008
So I’m sure that most people have noticed that the site has been offline for a few days. There’s a reason for that, which I will get to shortly. But first, let me just say this:
In fact, I am blogging at a new site I have just finished setting up: kennethhynek.net. A full explanation for the reasons behind the move can be found here
.
That said, this is not the end of Time Immortal. My wife Grace has expressed interest in taking over blogging at this domain, and I am working to make sure that she gets set up here as soon as possible.
Also, my profound apologies for the modification to the site face; the move was not as seamless as I would have hoped, and many of the image files for this theme, and in the gallery, were corrupted during the course of their evacuation from my previous web host’s servers. Until such time as I have repaired them, I’ve put a clean-looking template in place of the previous one.
Update: for the purposes of further traffic shaping, new posts from kennethhynek.net will be excerpted below. Full articles can be read at the new blog.
Lesbians trying to sideline men? Perish the thought!
February 5, 2008
British scientists are ready to turn female bone marrow into sperm, cutting men out of the process of creating life.
The breakthrough paves the way for lesbian couples to have children that are biologically their own.
Gay men could follow suit by using the technique to make eggs from male bone marrow. [but there's still the whole problem of carrying the child; I guess gay men will never truly be able to have a baby all their own -- Ken]
Researchers at Newcastle upon Tyne University say their technique will help lead to new treatments for infertility.
But critics warn that it sidelines men and raises the prospect of babies being born through entirely artificial means.
The research centres around stem cells - the body’s ‘mother’ cells which can turn into any other type of cell.
According to New Scientist magazine, the scientists want to take stem cells from a woman donor’s bone marrow and transform them into sperm through the use of special chemicals and vitamins.
There is one upshot to this field of research:
Taking stem cells from an adult donor — possibly a cancer patient — removes the ethical problems associated with using embryos.
Does it? I guess, in one sense, yes…although given other recent developments, there is always the possibility of new ethical problems emerging. Because I’m sure nobody would ever think to harvest bone marrow and stem cells from cancer patients without their express approval, right?
My goodness but these are strange times we live in. Whatever happened to having a baby the normal way…you know, the biologically normal way? One guy, one girl, sexual intercourse…you know, the way every other mammal does it?
Oh, right…that’s why we have abortion.
