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Earlier this month, a British journalist broke the news that researchers had taken a major step toward growing stem cells into structures that resemble human embryos.

Details about the experiments, and any sort of outside analysis of their quality or significance, were scarce, since the academic paper summarizing the work was still under peer review. But as the news spread around the globe, other scientists who had more quietly been working in the same area quickly posted preprints of their own progress.

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Almost overnight, it seemed, the world was awash in different ways to coax stem cells into something that looked like the earliest days of a human life. The pushback was immediate, prompting accusations of overblown claims as well as outcry about ethical considerations and legal guardrails lagging behind the pace of scientific progress. Meanwhile, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s podcast, which studies have found to be a top spreader of misinformation, denounced synthetic babies as “the next abomination.”

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