reproductive

Future of Families: How reproductive technology can reverse population decline Speakers: Antonio Regalado, Sr Editor of biomedicine and special guest Martín Varsavsky, Founder of Prelude Fertility Birth rates have been plummeting in wealthy countries, well below the “replacement” rate. Even in China, a dramatic downturn in the number of babies has officials scrambling, as its population growth turns negative. What’s behind the baby bust and can new reproductive technology reverse the trend? Startup companies are…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Access to reproductive health care—and abortion in particular—is an issue that resonates with voters' deeply held personal beliefs and reflects their underlying moral, philosophical, and religious views. But is it also an economic issue? Since the 2022 Dobbs decision, 21 states have banned or severely restricted access to…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Nearly half of teenagers are worried about having children and many lack knowledge about their reproductive health, find two new studies by University College London researchers. The studies, published in Human Fertility and Health Education Journal, used survey results from 931 students in England aged 16 to 18,…

Recent research indicates that higher lifetime estrogen exposure, marked by longer pregnancy and reproductive periods, may reduce the risk of cerebral small vessel disease in postmenopausal women, pointing to the significance of reproductive history in brain health management. New research, recently published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, suggests that individuals with higher lifelong estrogen exposure might be at a reduced risk for cerebral small vessel disease. This condition,…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain People are beginning to reconsider their reproductive decisions due to complex concerns about climate change, with many choosing to forego childbearing, or reduce the number of children they have as a result, finds a new study by UCL researchers. The research, published in PLOS Climate, is the…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain It's been a year since the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, and the predictions by several experts that the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade would lead individual states to ban abortions have come true. Also true has been…

Roe v. Wade was overturned a year ago this week, allowing states to adopt sweeping restrictions and outright bans against abortion. But even before Roe fell, reproductive health care in the U.S. was a sprawling patchwork—one third of all counties lacked a single obstetrician. After the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, health care provider groups and advocates warned of widening disparities and further setbacks to maternal and reproductive health. Now 14 states have…

It’s not yet noon in Portland when Natalie Morales repairs to a modest Airbnb and plops on to a couch next to a deep-slumbering lap hound named Taco, a very good dog. Morales is filming a feature about veterans with PTSD that’s only pressing on through the writers’ strike because it’s an independent film. Its small budget and tight schedule has Morales on call six days a week. But intense work schedules are nothing new for the 38-year-old multi-hyphenate dark comedy queen, whose deadpan acting credits run from Parks and…

Coral reefs in the Red Sea – such as this one in the Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba – and the Persian Gulf are particularly affected by light pollution. Credit: Sahchaf Ben EzraLight pollution from coastal cities is causing coral reefs to spawn outside their optimal reproductive times, reducing the chances of coral egg fertilization and new coral growth. The ALICE project found that corals exposed to artificial light at night spawned closer to the full moon compared to those on unlit reefs. Delaying night-time lighting in coastal…

The larger spheres (two can be seen) are egg chambers. Each chamber contains a future egg and associated nurse cells (some of these can be seen as hazy out-of-focus outlines). The covering sheet is made of follicle cells (shown in blue). Fluoxetine (Prozac) increases division (in magenta) of follicle cells in flies. Credit: Ilya Ruvinsky/Northwestern UniversityA study finds that happy worms have healthy eggs.Worms might not be depressed, per se. However, this does not exclude the possibility that they could still benefit…