WHY do women have more miscarriages than females of other species? Perhaps because it is normal for human embryos to contain cells with the wrong number of chromosomes, which can cause them to self-destruct.
As women age, their eggs are more likely to have the wrong number of chromosomes, which can lead to miscarriages. But when Joris Vermeesch from the Centre for Human Genetics in Leuven, Belgium, and colleagues examined 23 embryos from nine young, fertile couples who were undergoing IVF for screening purposes, they found that 21 had chromosomal abnormalities, suggesting these are in fact the norm (Nature Medicine…
