Parthenogenesis

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/parthenogenesis.aspx

parthenogenesis [Gr.,=virgin birth], in biology, a form of reproduction in which the ovum develops into a new individual without fertilization. Natural parthenogenesis has been observed in many lower animals (it is characteristic of the rotifers), especially insects, e.g., the aphid . In many social insects, such as the honeybee and the ant, the unfertilized eggs give rise to the male drones and the fertilized eggs to the female workers and queens. It has also been observed in some snakes, fish, and monitor lizards. The phenomenon is rarer among plants (where it is called parthenocarpy) than among animals. Unusual patterns of heredity can occur in parthenogenetic organisms. For example, offspring produced by some types are identical in all inherited respects to the mother. The phenomenon of parthenogenesis was discovered in the 18th cent. by Charles Bonnet . In 1900, JacquesLoeb,

BUT, never imagined it may connect with Prophet Jesus(A.S.) and his Birth without a father....wonderful reading....

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14819982.300-the-boy-whose-blood-has-no-father.html

The boy whose blood has no father

• 07 October 1995 by Philip Cohen
• Magazine issue 1998. Subscribe and save

IN THE closest thing to a human virgin birth that modern science has ever recorded, British geneticists last week described the remarkable case of a young boy whose body is derived in part from an unfertilised egg. The discovery has provided a rare glimpse into the control of human development and the evolutionary changes that made sex essential for mammalian reproduction.

Parthenogenesis - development of an unfertilised female sex cell without any male contribution - is a normal way of life for some plants, insects and even lizards. Sometimes, an unfertilised mammalian egg will begin dividing, but this growth usually does not get far. The self-activated "embryo" will create rudimentary bone and nerve, but there are some tissues, such as skeletal muscle, that it cannot make, preventing further development. Instead, it becomes a type of benign tumour called an ovarian teratoma.

Why mammals should have evolved these blocks to parthenogenesis ...