From ancient times to the present day, all societies have questioned themselves about sterility, and have tried - in some way - to find solutions to it. Here are the results of a vast investigation that combines the historical review of popular myths and taboos about this problem with the analysis and elucidation of the answers that are offered to it today. Aimed at those who have to intervene in issues related to medically assisted reproduction, this book proposes an unprejudiced reading of an issue as controversial as its vertiginous advance. From an articulation between social discourse and psychoanalysis, and also combining the perspectives of biology and law, the author analyses a dilemma of our time: the relationship between ethics and science, which the mass media have contributed to distort. Challenging accepted notions that - alteratively - exaggerate or deny the repercussions of developments in the field of biotechnology, she sheds light on this controversial topic.