The term ‘dystopian’ gets thrown around a lot these days, but it’s fair to say that the idea of babies gestating in a vat outside the womb warrants its use. Lab-grown babies are a feature of the dystopia imagined by Aldous Huxley in his 1932 novel Brave New World.

There is something unsettling about replacing one of nature’s most important and beautiful processes with soulless machinery, which is probably why a video showcasing the idea went viral recently.