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Can We Make an Artificial Womb?

Will we ever be able to take a human embryo, and raise it to the point of birth outside of a woman’s body? Nastaran Tavakoli-Far investigates.

From IVF to premature babies we explore what science we would need to make a baby outside the body in a pursuit to answer a question from Nigerian listener, Aminu asking: Can we make an artificial womb?

To find out, presenter Nastaran Tavakoli-Far gets very close to a uterus transplant operation, peers at the earliest cells of a placenta, and sees a disembodied womb being kept alive in a box full of artificial blood. She asks how close current reproductive medicine brings us to gestating babies in a lab.

Producer: Rory Galloway

(Photo: A human fetus. Credit: Getty Images)

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27 minutes

Last on

Mon 12 Nov 201818:32GMT
BBC World Service East and Southern Africa, South Asia & West and Central Africa only

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Broadcasts

  • Fri 9 Nov 201820:32GMT
    BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean, UK DAB/Freeview, Europe and the Middle East, Online & News Internet only
  • Fri 9 Nov 201821:32GMT
    BBC World Service Australasia & East Asia only
  • Sun 11 Nov 201800:32GMT
    BBC World Service
  • Mon 12 Nov 201805:32GMT
    BBC World Service Online, UK DAB/Freeview, News Internet & Europe and the Middle East only
  • Mon 12 Nov 201806:32GMT
    BBC World Service Australasia, Americas and the Caribbean & South Asia only
  • Mon 12 Nov 201807:32GMT
    BBC World Service East and Southern Africa & East Asia only
  • Mon 12 Nov 201811:32GMT
    BBC World Service West and Central Africa
  • Mon 12 Nov 201814:32GMT
    BBC World Service Australasia
  • Mon 12 Nov 201818:32GMT
    BBC World Service East and Southern Africa, South Asia & West and Central Africa only

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