3-Parent Embryo

This story seems to date back to 5 Feb, 2008, so I wonder why it has suddenly appeared here.

Not sure what you mean. From the article...

"Two years ago, Turnbull performed the basic steps of the technique with embryos left over from in vitro fertilization. Last August, other researchers performed a variation of the technique, starting with unfertilized eggs rather than zygotes, on rhesus macaque monkeys."

From that it would seem that the process was only recently fully realized and the inteirm 6-7 months spent reviewing & documenting for publication. Not uncommon.

Then again, it could also be coming out at this time because the now-2-year old mutant super-babies have decided to emerge from seclusion and enslave us all with their fearsome genetic powers. But I'm going with the former.

From the Reuters item of 5 Feb, 2008, titled "Scientists Create 3 Parent embryo"

"The technique has so far been tried only in the laboratory, using abnormal embryos left over from IVF therapy, and the handful of three-parent embryos created were destroyed after six days."

I am not a biologist, but the headline appeared in 2008, and 3 parent embryos were created, so it isn't something "new", just a variation perhaps.

This is not all that new. It is my understanding that they have progressed to live births of animal having the mitochondria of one mother, but the nuclear DNA of a different mother plus a father. They start with an egg with bad mitochondria but with desirable nuclear DNA, remove the nucleus of an egg with good mitochondria and replace it with the nucleus of the other egg, then fertilize it with sperm as usual. wham bam, 3 parent embryo. It is my understanding that this may be in clinical practice within a year or two for women whose eggs have bad mitochondria that lead to fetal death or miscarriage of the fetus during development. It would require a donor egg, but the nuclear material would be able to be that of the birth mother. Only the Mitochondria would be different.