Medicine: A Revolution in Making Babies

New techniques help childless couples -- even after menopause

For hundreds of thousands of years, there was only one way to make a baby, at least for humans. Either it worked or it didn't, and if it didn't, there was little anyone could do about it. All that has changed dramatically. The growing problem of infertility -- exacerbated by a generation of would-be parents who put off having babies until their 30s and 40s -- and the early successes of in-vitro ("test tube") fertilization have laid the groundwork for a revolution in reproductive technology. Hardly a week goes by without news of a breakthrough to help nature take its course....

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