Latest Parthenogenesis Stories

By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical WriterCHESTER, England - In an evolutionary twist, Flora the Komodo dragon has managed to become pregnant all on her own without any male help. She is carrying seven baby Komodo dragons. "We were blown away when we realized what she'd done," said Kevin Buley, a reptile expert at Flora's home at the Chester Zoo in this town in northern England. "But we certainly won't be naming any of the hatchlings Jesus."Other reptile species reproduce asexually...

SEOUL, South Korea -- A panel questioned stem cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk, sealed off his office and secured materials in his laboratory Sunday as it began a probe of allegations he falsified embryonic stem cells that he said he had created in a scientific breakthrough. Seoul National University began the investigation after Hwang acknowledged there were "fatal errors" in a May article in the journal Science claiming that he and other researchers cloned human embryos and created...

(Portland, Ore.) - Usually when you give up something, there's a price to pay. Not so in the case of the Australian Bynoe's gecko. This line of all-female geckos doesn't need sex or a male to reproduce and, contrary to expectations, these "Wonder Woman" geckos can run farther and faster than their sexually reproducing relatives. The research findings are published in the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology (Vol. 78, 3, May/June 2005) by Michael Kearney, Rebecca Wahl and Kellar...

LONDON (AP) -- The creators of Dolly the sheep, the world's first mammal cloned from an adult, want to create cloned human embryos for stem cell research, one of the scientists said Wednesday. The Roslin Institute, near Edinburgh, Scotland, said it is considering applying to the government's fertility authority for a license to carry out the procedure, known as therapeutic cloning. Ian Wilmut, who led the team which created Dolly, said it would be "immoral" not to use therapeutic...