生物学和生命科学文献中的同行评审期刊发表了代表人类生命始于受精的生物学观点的文章(“受精观点”)。由于这些陈述通常是在没有解释或引用的情况下提供的,受精的观点似乎没有受到编辑的质疑,审稿人,和对科学期刊有贡献的作者。然而,美国人对受精观点是“哲学或宗教信仰”(45%)还是“生物学和科学事实”(46%)存在分歧,只有38%的美国人认为受精是人类生活的起点。在两项研究中,探讨了专家对此事的看法,受精观点是公共卫生和IVF专业人士最受欢迎的观点.由于最近的一项研究表明,80%的美国人认为生物学家是最有资格确定人类生命何时开始的群体,对生物学专家进行了调查,以提供一个新的视角来研究专家对这一问题的看法。来自世界各地1,058个学术机构的生物学家评估了人类生命何时开始的调查项目,总的来说,96%(5577个中的5337个)肯定了施肥的看法。科学传播领域的创始原则表明,科学家有道德和专业义务告知美国人,以及世界各地的人们,关于科学发展,这样公众就可以被授权做出与现有最佳信息相一致的生活决策。鉴于这种观点-以及最近的一项研究发现,大多数美国人认为他们应该知道人类的生命何时开始,以便做出明智的生殖决定-科学传播者应该努力提高对受精观点的科学意识水平,因为它是人类生命何时开始的主要生物学观点。
Peer-reviewed journals in the biological and life sciences literature have published articles that represent the biological view that a human\'s life begins at fertilization (\"the fertilization view\"). As those statements are typically offered without explanation or citation, the fertilization view seems to be uncontested by the editors, reviewers, and authors who contribute to scientific journals. However, Americans are split on whether the fertilization view is a \"philosophical or religious belief\" (45%) or a \"biological and scientific fact\" (46%), and only 38% of Americans view fertilization as the starting point of a human\'s life. In the two studies that explored experts\' views on the matter, the fertilization view was the most popular perspective held by public health and IVF professionals. Since a recent study suggested that 80% of Americans view biologists as the group most qualified to determine when a human\'s life begins, experts in biology were surveyed to provide a new perspective to the literature on experts\' views on this matter. Biologists from 1,058 academic institutions around the world assessed survey items on when a human\'s life begins and, overall, 96% (5337 out of 5577) affirmed the fertilization view. The founding principles of the field Science Communication suggest that scientists have an ethical and professional obligation to inform Americans, as well as people around the world, about scientific developments so members of the public can be empowered to make life decisions that are consistent with the best information available. Given that perspective-and a recent study\'s finding that a majority of Americans believe they deserve to know when a human\'s life begins in order to make informed reproductive decisions-science communicators should work to increase the level of science awareness on the fertilization view, as it stands alone as the leading biological perspective on when a human\'s life begins.