Episode Details
Back to Episodes"The optimal age to freeze eggs is 19" by GeneSmith
Published 1 week, 1 day ago
Description
If you're a woman interested in preserving your fertility window beyond its natural close in your late 30s, egg freezing is one of your best options.
The female reproductive system is one of the fastest aging parts of human biology. But it turns out, not all parts of it age at the same rate.
The eggs, not the uterus, are what age at an accelerated rate. Freezing eggs can extend a woman's fertility window by well over a decade, allowing a woman to give birth into her 50s. In fact, the oldest woman to give birth was a mother in India using donor eggs who became pregnant at age 74!
In a world where more and more women are choosing to delay childbirth to pursue careers or to wait for the right partner, egg freezing is really the only tool we have to enable these women to have the career and the family they want.
Given that this intervention can nearly double the fertility window of most women, it's rather surprising just how little fanfare there is about it and how narrow the set of circumstances are under which it is recommended.
Standard practice in the fertility [...]
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Outline:
(05:12) Polygenic Embryo Screening
(06:52) What about technology to make eggs from stem cells? Wont that make egg freezing obsolete?
(07:26) We dont know with certainty how long it will take to develop this technology
(07:48) Stem cell derived eggs are probably going to be quite expensive at the start
(08:36) Cells accrue genetic mutations over time
(09:12) How do I actually freeze my eggs?
(12:12) Risks of egg freezing
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First published:
February 8th, 2026
Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/dxffBxGqt2eidxwRR/the-optimal-age-to-freeze-eggs-is-19
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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.
---
The female reproductive system is one of the fastest aging parts of human biology. But it turns out, not all parts of it age at the same rate.
The eggs, not the uterus, are what age at an accelerated rate. Freezing eggs can extend a woman's fertility window by well over a decade, allowing a woman to give birth into her 50s. In fact, the oldest woman to give birth was a mother in India using donor eggs who became pregnant at age 74!
In a world where more and more women are choosing to delay childbirth to pursue careers or to wait for the right partner, egg freezing is really the only tool we have to enable these women to have the career and the family they want.
Given that this intervention can nearly double the fertility window of most women, it's rather surprising just how little fanfare there is about it and how narrow the set of circumstances are under which it is recommended.
Standard practice in the fertility [...]
---
Outline:
(05:12) Polygenic Embryo Screening
(06:52) What about technology to make eggs from stem cells? Wont that make egg freezing obsolete?
(07:26) We dont know with certainty how long it will take to develop this technology
(07:48) Stem cell derived eggs are probably going to be quite expensive at the start
(08:36) Cells accrue genetic mutations over time
(09:12) How do I actually freeze my eggs?
(12:12) Risks of egg freezing
---
First published:
February 8th, 2026
Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/dxffBxGqt2eidxwRR/the-optimal-age-to-freeze-eggs-is-19
---
Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.
---
Images from the article:
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