Scientists say early experiments suggest it may one day be possible to make babies without using eggs.
科学家称，早期实验表明，将来某一天或许不需要卵子就能孕育出婴儿。
They have succeeded in creating healthy baby mice by tricking
sperm into believing they were fertilising normal eggs.
The findings in Nature Communications, could, in the distant future, mean women can be removed from the baby-making process, say the researchers.
For now, the work helps to explain some of the details of fertilisation.
End of mum and dad?
The University of Bath scientists started with an unfertilised egg in their experiments. They used chemicals to trick it into becoming a pseudo-embryo.
These "fake"
embryos share much in common with ordinary cells, such as skin cells, in the way they divide and control their
DNA.
The researchers reasoned that if injecting sperm into mouse pseudo-embryos could produce healthy babies, then it might one day be possible to achieve a similar result in humans using cells that are not from eggs.
In the mouse experiments, the
odds of achieving a successful
pregnancy was one in four.
Dr Tony Perry, one of the researchers, told the BBC News website: "This is the first time that anyone has been able to show that anything other than an egg can combine with a sperm in this way to give rise to offspring.
"It overturns nearly 200 years of thinking."
Those baby mice were healthy, had a normal life
expectancy and had healthy pups of their own.
相关单词：sperm
sperm解释：n.精子，精液
sperm例句：
Only one sperm fertilises an egg.只有一个精子使卵子受精。
In human reproduction,one female egg is usually fertilized by one sperm.在人体生殖过程中，一个精子使一个卵子受精。
相关单词：embryos
embryos解释：n.晶胚；胚，胚胎( embryo的名词复数 )
embryos例句：
Somatic cells of angiosperms enter a regenerative phase and behave like embryos. 被子植物体细胞进入一个生殖阶段，而且其行为象胚。 来自辞典例句
Evolution can explain why human embryos look like gilled fishes. 进化论能够解释为什么人类的胚胎看起来象除去了内脏的鱼一样。 来自辞典例句
相关单词：DNA
DNA解释：(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸
DNA例句：
DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。
相关单词：odds
odds解释：n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别
odds例句：
The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？
相关单词：pregnancy
pregnancy解释：n.怀孕，怀孕期
pregnancy例句：
Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。
相关单词：expectancy
expectancy解释：n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额
expectancy例句：
Japanese people have a very high life expectancy.日本人的平均寿命非常长。
The atomosphere of tense expectancy sobered everyone.这种期望的紧张气氛使每个人变得严肃起来。
