Latest news with #MITTechnologyReview
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
'World's Oldest Baby' Born From 30-Year-Old Frozen Embryo
An adopted embryo that was frozen for 30 and a half years has given rise to what some claim is the 'oldest baby' in the world. According to an exclusive scoop from MIT Technology Review's Jessica Hamzelou, the newborn baby boy was conceived in the United States in May 1994 to one set of parents and born on 26 July 2025 to another set of parents. For decades, the embryo remained frozen in time, both young and old all at once. Related: The biological mother, Linda Archerd, and her then-husband froze the embryo while undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) in the 1990s. After having a baby girl, the couple was left with three embryos in the bank. Decades later, Archerd decided it was time to donate them. Lindsey and Tim Pierce are the happy recipients of her generosity. "We didn't go into it thinking we would break any records," Lindsey told Hamzelou at MIT Tech Review. "We just wanted to have a baby." Previously, the longest-frozen embryos to result in the birth of a child were cryopreserved in the US for just over 30 years. The double embryo transfer resulted in twins in 2022. The latest record-breaking adoption was completed by a fertility clinic in Tennessee, run by reproductive endocrinologist John Gordon, who believes every embryo has a chance at life because of his religion. US fertility clinics like his are pushing the limits of IVF technology, even if the frozen embryos they transfer wouldn't be accepted elsewhere in the world. In Australia, for instance, embryos can only be frozen for up to five years, while in the United Kingdom they can be stored for up to 55 years. In the US, however, embryos can be frozen indefinitely. What's more, many go unclaimed, which raises ethical concerns, and which legally means they cannot be donated for reproductive use or research. By some estimates, there are currently as many as 1.5 million embryos frozen in the US. "These are formidable numbers that keep growing every year with currently no clear ethical or legal means to reach a practical solution," computational biochemist Shina Caroline Lynn Kamerlin wrote in a paper from 2024. In recent years, clinics have been thawing and transferring older and older frozen embryos for 'adoption'. The result is that some of the newborn children have siblings who are decades older than them. The Pierce family's son, for instance, was conceived at around the same time as Archerd's daughter in the 1990s, meaning his sister is around 30 years older than him. The Pierce family adopted the embryo from Archerd through the Snowflakes program, which is run by the Nightlight Christian Adoptions agency. Beth Button, executive director of the program, told Hamzelou at MIT Tech Review that she thinks "over 90 percent of clinics in the US would not have accepted these embryos." IVF technologies have changed a lot over the years, and older embryos are stored in ways that can be trickier to thaw using modern methods. There are also concerns over viability. In 2022, a large retrospective study in China found that prolonged storage time can negatively affect the survival rate of embryos, although it did not seem to have a significant influence on neonatal health. Still, the research is mixed. Other studies have found that the length of cryopreservation does not influence embryo survival after thawing. Most studies on the topic are based on embryos that have been frozen for much less than 30 years. Fertility clinics in the US are putting this life-giving technology to the test. They have not yet found the limit. Related News This Potent Psychedelic Mysteriously Echoes Near-Death Experiences Mysterious 2,500-Year-Old 'Gift to The Gods' Finally Identified 4,000-Year-Old Handprint Discovered on Ancient Egyptian Artifact Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Has the world's oldest baby just been born? 'It's like something out of a sci-fi movie!'
His birth was decades in the making! Thaddeus Daniel Pierce may look like a typical infant in a lot of ways, but there's something very unique about him: He was the result of an "adopted" embryo created over thirty years ago. Linda Archerd and her then-husband were attempting IVF in the early 1990s, and produced four embryos. While one became her now-adult daughter, the rest were frozen. Then, three decades passed. 'We didn't go into it thinking we would break any records,' Lindsey Pierce, baby Thaddeus's mother, told the MIT Technology Review. 'We just wanted to have a baby.' Lindsey and Tim Pierce had been trying to get pregnant for seven years, so this was something they have been wanting for a very long time. "We had a rough birth but we are both doing well now. He is so chill. We are in awe that we have this precious baby!" Pierce told MIT Technology Review.. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Has the world's oldest baby just been born? 'It's like something out of a sci-fi movie!'
His birth was decades in the making! Thaddeus Daniel Pierce may look like a typical infant in a lot of ways, but there's something very unique about him: He was the result of an "adopted" embryo created over thirty years ago. Linda Archerd and her then-husband were attempting IVF in the early 1990s, and produced four embryos. While one became her now-adult daughter, the rest were frozen. Then, three decades passed. 'We didn't go into it thinking we would break any records,' Lindsey Pierce, baby Thaddeus's mother, told the MIT Technology Review. 'We just wanted to have a baby.' Lindsey and Tim Pierce had been trying to get pregnant for seven years, so this was something they have been wanting for a very long time. "We had a rough birth but we are both doing well now. He is so chill. We are in awe that we have this precious baby!" Pierce told MIT Technology Review.. Solve the daily Crossword
NDTV
6 days ago
- Health
- NDTV
World's 'Oldest' Baby Born From 30-Year-Old Frozen Embryo
A baby born in the US from an embryo frozen 30 years ago is believed to have broken the record for the world's 'oldest' baby. Named Thaddeus Daniel Pierce, the baby was born on July 26 from the embryo that had been cryopreserved since 1994. The baby's parents, Lindsey and Tim Pierce, who live in Ohio, had been trying to get pregnant for seven years. The breakthrough came when they "adopted" the embryo from Linda Archerd, 62, who had it stored decades ago. "We had a rough birth but we are both doing well now. He is so chill. We are in awe that we have this precious baby!" Lindsey Pierce, his mother, was quoted as saying by MIT Technology Review. It was in the early 1990s that Ms Archerd and her then-husband decided to try in vitro fertilisation (IVF) after struggling to conceive. In 1994, four embryos resulted: one was transferred to Archerd and resulted in the birth of a daughter, who is now 30 and mother to a 10-year-old. The other embryos were cryopreserved and stored. "The baby has a 30-year-old sister. It's been pretty surreal. It's hard to even believe," said Ms Archerd, who revealed that she had wanted another baby using the embryo, but her then-husband felt differently. Ms Archerd went on to divorce him, but she won custody of the embryos and kept them in storage, still hopeful she might use them one day, perhaps with another partner. AI helps couple conceive Last month, a couple trying to conceive a baby for 18 years finally managed to get pregnant thanks to the use of artificial intelligence (AI). IVF attempts were unsuccessful due to azoospermia, a rare condition in which no measurable sperm is present in the male partner's semen. Using the STAR (Sperm Tracking and Recovery) method devised by the Columbia University Fertility Center (CUFC), the couple managed to get pregnant. Researchers at the fertility centre examined the semen sample with the AI-powered system and managed to find the hidden sperm. After recovering the sperm, it was used to fertilise the wife's egg via IVF, and she became the first-ever woman to conceive using the STAR method.
India.com
6 days ago
- Health
- India.com
Worlds Oldest Baby? Boy Born To Ohio Couple From Embryo Frozen Over 30 Years Ago
In a remarkable and heartwarming event, a baby boy was born from an embryo that was frozen over 30 years ago. The child was born to Lindsey and Tim Pierce, a couple from Ohio, United States, on Saturday. The embryo, preserved since the early 1990s, marks an impressive milestone for reproductive medicine. According to a BBC report, this is believed to be the longest an embryo has been frozen before leading to a successful live birth. The rare case highlights the remarkable achievement and advancement in fertility science. Adoption Of 30-Year-Old Embryo Lindsey and Tim Pierce had been trying to have a child for seven years before deciding to adopt a frozen embryo. The BBC further reported, the embryo was created in 1994 through IVF by Linda Archerd (62). She and her then-husband had created four embryos, one of which led to the birth of their daughter, now 30 years old. The remaining three embryos were frozen and stored for decades, one of which has now resulted in the birth of Lindsey and Tim's baby boy. Linda separated from her husband; however, she wanted to be involved with the baby that would be born from her embryos. Thus, she kept the embryos in storage until she found a Christian embryo adoption agency. According to the BBC, Linda told MIT Technology Review that she wanted her embryos to be adopted by a Caucasian married and Christian couple from the US. The baby boy has been named Thaddeus Daniel Pierce. The birth of Thaddeus could bring hope to countless families seeking alternative paths to parenthood. Significance of IVF Treatment The IVF treatment has, for a long time, made the dreams of many people of becoming parents come true. Speaking of the treatment's procedure, according to an ANI report, the In-vitro fertilization means that eggs are taken from the ovaries and fertilized with sperm outside of the body in an IVF centre lab. Meanwhile, as per IANS, scientists in the UK used a three-person IVF technique to bring to life eight children and spared them from genetic mitochondrial disease. The infants, four girls and four boys, including one set of identical twins, were born using DNA from three people.
