Scientists create world’s first ‘synthetic embryos’

A natural embryo (left) compared with a synthetic embryo. Synthetic embryos are expected to drive deeper understanding of how organs and tissues form during the development of natural embryos. Photograph: Weizmann Institute

Researchers have created the world’s first “synthetic embryos” in a groundbreaking feat that bypassed the need for sperm, eggs and fertilisation.

Scientists at the Weizmann Institute in Israel found that stem cells from mice could be made to self-assemble into early embryo-like structures with an intestinal tract, the beginnings of a brain, and a beating heart.