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Are Artificial Wombs on the Horizon? And Those Egg-Freezing Parties…

International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center/flickr creative commons

Reportedly, younger women of child-bearing age are paying $10,000 to freeze their eggs, hoping to preserve their viability until the women find mates, or their careers and finances allow them to become pregnant. That's just one issue addressed by Faith's guests, regular contributor Dr. Mary Jane Minkin and new guests Dr. Erin WysongHofstatter and Dr. Elena Ratner, all affiliated with Yale's School of Medicine.

Serious scientists are growing animals outside the womb of the animal. How close are we to seeing "ectogenesis" in humans?

Should women put off breast mammography after a recent study said they find too few cancers to justify the expense of the procedure? Or, was the study flawed in significant ways?

Other topics for discussion include:

  • How women with low libido can boost sexual response.
  • What psychological preparation is required before deciding to be genetically screened to determine whether you are high-risk for breast cancer? (Dr. Hofstatter co-directs the Smilow Cancer Genetics Program at Yale.)
  • Is sexual health more than biology, or mechanical problems?
  • Was women's ski jumping banned from the Winter Olympics because organizers have long believed that "physical activity can make women infertile?" (Women are now permitted to compete in ski jumping, but it was approved last February for the first time.) 

Join the conversation by email, on Twitter, or on Facebook.

GUESTS:

  • Erin Wysong Hofstatter is Assistant Professor of Medicine and Co-Director of the Genetic Counseling Program at Yale School of Medicine.
  • Mary Jane Minkin is Clinical Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at Yale School of Medicine.
  • Elena Ratner is Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at Yale School of Medicine.

MUSIC:

  • “Gne Gne,” Montefiori Cocktail
  • “Transitions,” El Ten Eleven
  • “ Yellow Bridges,” El Ten Eleven

Lori Mack and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show.

For more than 25 years, the two-time Peabody Award-winning Faith Middleton Show has been widely recognized for fostering insightful, thought-provoking conversation. Faith Middleton offers her listeners some of the world's most fascinating people and subjects. The show has been inducted into the Connecticut Magazine Hall of Fame as "Best Local Talk Show".

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