The technique is actually designed to prevent certain genetic diseases associated with the mother's mitochondrial DNA (a small amount of DNA that lives outside the cell nucleus). One woman contributes her nuclear DNA, one contributes mitochondrial DNA, and the father contributes the typical chunk of his own nuclear DNA. Presto: a baby with three genetic parents.

No three-parent babies have been born yet, but the researchers say they've done enough testing that they plan to make the procedure available in the next three to five years. Here's how it works:

The process involves in vitro fertilization (IVF) and the subsequent removal of the egg's nucleus. The nucleus is then placed into a donor egg whose DNA has been removed. The resulting fetus inherits nuclear DNA, or genes, from both parents but mitochondrial DNA from a third party.

Scientists create three-parent embryos [Reuters]

Researchers took DNA from one of Wood's skin cells, injected it into a human egg cell from the fertility clinic next door to Stemagen, and created a multi-celled embryo — essentially the same size embryo that a fertility clinic would implant into a woman undergoing IVF treatments. Wood, however, emphasizes that he's horrified by the idea of human cloning and wants only to use this new technique to make stem cells for therapeutic purposes.

I say, bring on the human clones. Kerry Macintosh, a law professor, has recently written a fascinating book, Illegal Beings, about how the biggest problem with human clones is their legal status. She argues that when a human clone is born its identity will have to be kept secret — under current law, the clone's existence is illegal and therefore it would have no human rights and would have to be confiscated by the government if found out. So there might be human clones out there right now, but the frightened parents would never reveal it for fear of losing their child.

Mature Human Embryos Created from Adult Skin Cells [Washington Post]

A company called Anacova has won an award for its new embryo-baking technology, a special stick full of "embryo environments" that gets stuck in a woman's womb for a week or so. Usually when embryos are fertilized for IVF, they live the first few cell divisions of their lives in an incubator. Apparently this lowers the quality of the embryos, so the Anacova device — which exposes embryos to the womb environment — is expected to produce higher-quality proto-humans for harvesting. That means you can add one more person to your outsourced womb list. There's the surrogate who gives you her egg, then the embryo-cooker who gives you her womb for a week or so while your embryo ripens, and then the surrogate who carries the baby to term. [Medgadget]

A new longitudinal study in Canada proves that divorce does not affect parenting skills. [Eurekalert]

A researcher in Chicago figured out that drugs regulating synaptic behavior can make fruit flies gay within hours. Apparently homosexual behavior in fruit flies is biological, but not hardwired. It's extremely unlikely that such a drug would work in humans, since our brains are so different and our sexualities much more complex. Still, a girl can dream, can't she? Christina Ricci, you will be mine! [Science Daily] Image of nanotech device courtesy of Cornell University.