The artificial embryos are made from collections of stem cells that can divide and multiply like a normal embryo but are unable to properly develop into a fetus or baby, allowing researchers to carry out their work with fewer ethical concerns. "This is not a real human embryo and does not have the ability to develop into an individual," Leqian Yu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' (CAS) Institute of Zoology who is leading the experiment, said May 14 in a CAS statement. "However, i