Scientists in Australia have found a way to fertilise eggs using genetic material from any cell in the body – and not just sperm.

The technique could potentially help infertile couples to have children.

Theoretically, it also could mean that lesbian couples could give birth to a baby girl without the need for a father. Women do not carry the genetic information required to make a boy.

The technique has been developed by Dr Orly Lacham-Kaplan, from Monash University in Melbourne.

She told the BBC that her team had been able to successfully fertilise mice eggs in lab cultures using other cells in the body known as somatic cells.

BBC: Eggs fertilised without sperm

(via Plastic).