Posted 08 October 2005 - 12:45 PM
The obvious problem with this theory is wouldn't the mother make a clone of herself? The answer is not necessarily. The first division of the ovuum DNA might be equal but dividing the doubled DNA into four half DNAs does not have to be indentical. The Ovuum is so much larger than its sister cell, such that her sister cell might half the DNA more uniformly instead of in a slanted fashion like the ovuum.
Posted 08 October 2005 - 12:56 PM
Technically, a virgin birth is possible (this is called parthenogenesis) but it would have to be a female clone of the mother. A male virgin birth is not possible, short of a pathological status of the parent or a miraculous intervention.
The Christian theology begins with a virgin pregnancy. The question becomes, is this scientifically possible?
Posted 08 October 2005 - 01:06 PM
I think the second example is from a "mother" with hermaphroditic characteristics. It is also conceivable that a mother with Turner's mosaic (some XXY cells) could produce a male offspring via parthenogenesis, but these are all pathological parental scenarios.
There is some evidence, however, that natural parthenogenesis does occasionally occur in humans. There are many instances in which impregnation has allegedly taken place in women without there being any possibility of the semen entering the female genital passage . In some cases it was found either in the course of pregnancy or at the time of childbirth that the female passages were obstructed. In 1956 the medical journal Lancet published a report concerning 19 alleged cases of virgin birth among women in England, who were studied by members of the British Medical Association. The six-month study convinced the investigators that human parthenogenesis was physiologically possible and had actually occurred in some of the women studied .... ... It is possible that some cases of human parthenogenesis involve self-fertilization rather than true virgin birth, as there are cases of sperm being produced in women by vestigial, usually nonfunctional, male reproductive glands known as the epoöphoron (parovarium) and paroöphoron, which correspond to the seminiferous tubules of the testicles in males. In some instances, the magnetic influence and nervous excitement occasioned by attempted sexual intercourse may rouse into activity the latent, rudimentary male sex glands so that they secrete semen, resulting in impregnation .
Posted 08 October 2005 - 03:28 PM