This is The Guardian.

Last week, scientists announced an incredible medical advance.

Eight babies have been born here in the UK thanks to a groundbreaking IVF technique which uses genetic material from three people.

The pioneering procedure was developed to prevent mitochondrial diseases, which can be extremely serious and often fatal, being passed from mother to child.

If you've got a child with mitochondrial disease,

it has huge impacts on the whole family.

And I don't think that can be underestimated.

The treatment at the moment is treating symptoms.

For now, mitochondrial diseases remain incurable.

Some women decide to be childless.

Some people will adopt. Some people were considered egg donation.

But for the women that we're talking about, there wasn't any other option apart from rolling the dice and hoping that somehow they were lucky.

But that's an awful thing to do when you're thinking that you're talking about the life of a child.

But this groundbreaking new technique offers hope to prospective parents

that they can have healthy babies and the families they'd always wanted.

From The Guardian, I'm Madeleine Finley, and this is Science Weekly.

Ian Sampal, thanks again for joining me.

Now, last week you covered this quite incredible story

that eight healthy babies had been born

via this technique that's been developed by scientists

to prevent or reduce the risk of mitochondrial

diseases. And as part of this, you spoke to one of the scientists involved, who we will be hearing

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