Virgin conception' first for UK

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4228992.stm

Human embryos created using a so-called "virgin conception" technique have been made in the UK for the first time.

The Roslin Institute, which also cloned Dolly the sheep, reported the so-called parthenotes at a Dublin conference.

They are made by stimulating a human egg to start dividing like an embryo without the addition of any genetic material from a male sperm cell.

Scary science!!

mad mad story IMHO so wrong just so wrong.

Mind you some women would argue the upside of this is getting rid of men but I say who is gonna put the shelves up

[Derek]

I remember from my Biology course at Uni that eggs and sperm do not have a full complement of genes so I don't know how this would go for actually growing an embryo from the egg?

[punky]

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

mad mad story IMHO so wrong just so wrong.

Mind you some women would argue the upside of this is getting rid of men but I say who is gonna put the shelves up

And don't we bloody know it. Still the Y chromosome is deteriorating at quite a significant rate so men will die out and be extinct anyway, and women will have to kill spiders themselves, and carry their own shopping.

Quite what they are trying to achieve, I don't know. Cloning (especially without sperm) would never be broadly legal, nevermind accepted. They have even done the whole process through to birth and beyond in mice, and produced "abnormal development".

EDIT: meant detrioating, not disappearing.

[Angua]

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

mad mad story IMHO so wrong just so wrong.

Mind you some women would argue the upside of this is getting rid of men but I say who is gonna put the shelves up

In our house it's usually me anyway.

However, for research purposes it could be ok provided that was as far as it went. The prospect of a person being developed this way needs a lot more time for attitues to be able to cope.

[Ramrod]

Parthenogenesis (out of the Greek for "virgin birth") occurs quite naturally in a number of lower animals. Insects such as bees and ants use it to produce their drones. Some larger animals can also reproduce this way - there are a few lizards, for example - but it is rare.

[Stuart]

And to think that on first read, I thought this was a new business venture for Richard Branson... Hang on, it could be.. It would fit into the name..

[Marge]

Originally Posted by punky

women will have to kill spiders themselves, and carry their own shopping.

You know damm fine, flower, that I carry all my own shopping and kill at the bloody daddy-long-legs that invade my house so less of your cheek

[jrhnewark]

Originally Posted by Stuart C

And to think that on first read, I thought this was a new business venture for Richard Branson... Hang on, it could be.. It would fit into the name..

I put myself forward as first employee!!

[Dooby]

Originally Posted by dezzo

I remember from my Biology course at Uni that eggs and sperm do not have a full complement of genes so I don't know how this would go for actually growing an embryo from the egg?

IIRC eggs and sperm both have one copy of each chromosome pair ( ie one has the left sock the other has the right), so I guess they could either add the chromosomes from another egg, or get the egg to duplicate its own to get the 'full set'. given the whole x/y thing though you would only be able to produce female clones i guess

EDIT:
helps if I read the article

In normal reproduction, eggs would kick out half their genetic material in preparation to receive the male complement delivered by a sperm cell.

To make parthenotes, therefore, the eggs must be cultured in the lab in such a way that they retain all of their chromosomes. A spark of electricity is then used to initiate the process of embryonic division.

[Russ]

I don't see what was so wrong with the original idea of a man and a woman coming together to make a child

[gazzae]

Originally Posted by Russ D

I don't see what was so wrong with the original idea of a man and a woman coming together to make a child

Literally

[orangebird]

I don't like the sound of it at all....

[jrhnewark]

Originally Posted by gazzae

Literally

Hey, hey!

As a 'bit of a nutter' (I am a bit of a quasi-Raelian nutter, but don't hold it against me), I'm not bothered by cloning - if fact, I think it's a great idea. Not because we don't have enough kids in the world, but for various other reasons.

I still like a good s***, though, when I can get one.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by Russ D

I don't see what was so wrong with the original idea of a man and a woman coming together to make a child

Ask those who can't (for whatever reason) have children, but want offspring who are biologically related to them (ie not adopted).