Can sperm really be created in a laboratory?

Anybody who has, for whatever reason, dreamed of a world without men in the past probably looked to the cloners to make it happen. Few would have imagined it might one day be possible to create human sperm in a laboratory, but that is now the proud claim of Professor Karim Nayernia of the North East England Stem Cell Institute. It is a claim that immediately hit controversy. Allan Pacey of the University of Sheffield, a sperm biologist of 20 years standing, declared he was unconvinced. Azim Surani, a professor of physiology and reproduction at Cambridge University, said they were "sperm-like cells" and "a long way from being authentic sperm cells". Reactions two years ago, when the same team not only grew mouse sperm from embryonic cells but used it to produce baby mice, were somewhat warmer, which perhaps says something about the sensitivities around the...

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