embryology

There is also demand among single people, albeit much smaller - just over 2,800 single people in the UK had IVF in 2021, according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.

"On one hand, several species exhibit developmental patterns similar to those of early insect embryos, featuring multinucleated stages and synchronised cellularisation. On the other hand, C. perkinsii undergoes cleavage division, symmetry breaking, and forms multicellular colonies with distinct cell types, similar to the 'canonical view' of early animal embryos. This diversity not only helps in understanding the path to animals but also offers a fascinating opportunity for comparative embryology outside of animals, which is, in itself, very exciting."

In November 2022, a woman with Down's syndrome lost a legal challenge to the existing law - the 1967 Abortion Act as amended by the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act - when judges at the Court of Appeal decided it did not interfere with the rights of living disabled people.

Dr McLean explained: "If an embryo is considered a child, the legal ramifications are too far-reaching and scary. We cannot put our practice or our embryology team at the risk of significant legal penalty or even jail time. And unfortunately, our patients are bearing the burden of this misguided ruling."

Centuries of embryology and morphology laid the groundwork for the discipline of developmental biology.