The Baby Gender Mentorô Home DNA Gender Testing Kit claims a 99.9% accuracy rate. You send a tiny sample of a pregnant woman's blood--which has traces of fetal DNA in it, apparently, into a lab, and they test it for the presence of fetal Y chromosomes. If they show up, their only possible source is a boy fetus; if they don't show up, that must be more female DNA in the mix.
Soon enough, I hope, there'll be a way to test whether your fetus has what it takes to be an astronaut. That way, if he doesn't, you'll have an extra eight months to find a genetically superior doppelganger for him, so that he'll be able to trick his way into the program, maybe date Uma Thurman.
The early gender test is $275, only at PregnancyStore.com [pregnancystore, via usnews]
Buy Gattaca on dvd at amazon [amazon]
update from the Boston Globe: the spectre of gender selection on the one hand and helping women "who can't wait to open Christmas presents" on the other.
Results available when 5 weeks pregnant. Hmm. Now you can gaurantee the sex of you child if you are ok with abortion at 5 weeks.
Astronaut testing...LOL!!
They are claiming fetal blood passes into the mother's blood stream? Everything I have EVER read contradicts this. If the baby's blood entered the mother's blood stream, even in a tiny amount, it could cause a rather large problem, seeing as how most babies end up with a different blood type from their mother. This is the reason doctor's have to do an Rh test on the mother before birth, because there _is_ a possibility the baby's blood could mix with the mother's blood some during deliver (small cuts or whatever) and could possibly kill her.
Not fetal blood, just small clumps of fetal DNA, called "cell-free DNA," which apparently crosses the placental wall and is present in the mother's plasma in minute amounts.
Very interesting.. I thought I remembered reading, as well, that a fetuses gender wasn't fully determined until 9 or 10 weeks or something..
It's a strange, strange world.
gender (along with every other detail) is determined the moment the egg is fertilized.