• Question: Is it possible to make a human in a lab

    Asked by Big man Marno to Kylie, Matt, Bex, RobB, Sam on 21 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Kylie Belchamber

      Kylie Belchamber answered on 21 Jun 2016:

      We are trying!
      We can’t make a whole human, but we can make organs.
      Scientists have successfully grown blood vessels in the lab, and ears, and other organs that are quite simple. So one day, maybe we could take some cells and grow a human.

      The other way to do this is to fertilise an egg in a dish, and grow the embryo into a baby. We can’t do this as we cannot simulate being in the womb well enough, and it would be a bit strange to grow a whole baby in the lab. Once day, it could be possible though!

    • Photo: Matt Dunn

      Matt Dunn answered on 21 Jun 2016:

      We can make something the same size and shape as a human, with all the right organs in the right places, but it wouldn’t be alive, it would just be an arrangement of cells.

      If you want the human in the lab to be alive and talk and be just like a normal human, it’s not possible for now, because while we can combine an egg and a sperm, giving this spark of life and consciousness to something grown in the lab is much harder.

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