"Chip" designed to grow human embryos

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In the latest issue of New Scientist Magazine, researchers in Japan said they had devised a "chip" measuring 2 mm across and 0.5 mm high, which they said simulates more closely the conditions of a natural womb.

Fresh IVF embryos are slipped into the chips, which rest on a membrane of cultured uterus cells. Once they are ready to attach themselves to the uterus wall, the eggs are reinserted into the mother's womb.

Embryos today are cultivated in microdroplets, a mix of mineral oil and culture fluid. This new method uses a type of simulated womb, and Japanese scientists say 80 percent of the embryos on the "chips" were ready to be inserted in a uterus within 72 hours, compared to 20 percent with the old method.