By Emily Murray

While it may sound like something from a futuristic novel, new findings have discovered that the skin from infertile men may be turned into sperm, allowing him to genetically reproduce.

Essentially, scientists believe that by turning skin cells into stem cells and in turn using these to produce sperm cells. While the theory is only now being tested in mice, it does seem viable but with one frightening potential drawback. Some of these cells turned into cancerous tumors when injected into the mice.

Human cells were used in the study but of course, could not result in a mature sperm due to the differences between cells in humans versus mice. They did however turn into germ cells which are the precursor to sperm. While the samples taken from fertile men seemed to produce much better results, it appears that even infertile men may produce enough germ cells for sperm to result.

For men who are unable to produce mature sperm cells, this could be a revolutionary finding that could lead them to have biological children when otherwise it would not have happened. While there are still many details to work out, this development is an exciting one that will require more research before it can be put into action.