The modern-day virgin birth

[highdesert50]

There is a well known mistranslation in the bible with reference to the Messiah's origins. As best I recall, Isaiah, in the original Hebrew, refers to the Messiah who would be conceived by an almah or young woman. But, the later Greek translation in the Septuagint version of Isaiah refers to a parthenos or virgin.

[Mr Right Wing]

Emmimarie Jones knew her daughter had been conceived without a father; in 1956, she almost convince the world she was right.

On November 6 1955, a story appeared on the front page of the Sunday Pictorial that was to double the newspaper’s circulation in a single day. Sporting the headline, “Doctors now say it doesn’t always need a man to make a baby”, the tabloid shouted that virgin births were no myth, and that there was a scientist who could prove it. The rare biological process which would enable this to happen was known as parthenogenesis, the paper informed its readers.

But the Pictorial’s editors didn’t stop there. Halfway down the page appeared three words, in bold block capitals: “Find The Case”. Sensationally, the paper was inviting women to come forward if they believed their daughters were the result of a virgin birth. If any woman’s case was proved correct, by a panel of leading doctors, she and her daughter were set to make medical – indeed, human – history. For the next year, the search for a virgin mother would grip the nation, and the world. The paper’s circulation figures, meanwhile, grew to an unprecedented six million.

http://www.telegraph...rgin-birth.html

Virgin birth in humans is not impossible.

The genes that control child development usually go wrong with no male input but there is a small chance of a child making it to the live birth stage and coming out not deformed.

[behaviour???]

This seems absolutely impossible. If at any point of time, it really did happen, a haploid set of chromosomes in an individual will produce not humans but something else.The only possibility I see for the person to assume a complete human form, but at the same time being a virgin is for the ovary to develop coenocytic condition (One cell with two sets of DNA content) and then carry over regular mitosis, however it feels that something like this is highly impossible, because an ovary analyses the basic signature of the baby only after fertilisation and only then will it continue with mitosis.

If this fertilisation fails to happen, the layers around it called zona pellucida and related layers will prevent any chances of a normal baby beacuse of its crucial role in geenral development of the life systems of the baby.At this point of the time, I think the only possibility we have so far is , as the newspaper suggested, she could have been used at her time in the hospital after sedation.

The genes that control child development usually go wrong with no male input but there is a small chance of a child making it to the live birth stage and coming out not deformed.

I would appreciate if you can validate this?

Edited August 18, 2012 by behaviour???

[arcta]

of course it is possible, invetro fertilization. nowadays you don't need a guy to be pregnated. stay a virgin and just go to the sperm bank and presto, no chance to catch any kind of sexually transmitted diseases.

[FreddyScienceTeacher]

I love the titillation stories like this cause among Christian Fundamentalists......I had a good laugh and liked the comments better than the story.

[behaviour???]

of course it is possible, invetro fertilization. nowadays you don't need a guy to be pregnated. stay a virgin and just go to the sperm bank and presto, no chance to catch any kind of sexually transmitted diseases.

You are forgetting the most important part of the story. The baby was bron without fertilisation, invitro procedure do require fertilisation though outside the human body.

[krone]

I understand there's a species of female lizard that reproduces entirely by 'immaculate conception', without males. What I don't get is why that's possible for a lizard, but not for humans. Anyone care to explain...?

[White Unicorn]

I understand there's a species of female lizard that reproduces entirely by 'immaculate conception', without males. What I don't get is why that's possible for a lizard, but not for humans. Anyone care to explain...?

I would say its the say reason some salamanders can grow whole limbs back but people can't. However I wouldn't think it to be an impossibility if the person was a genetic mutation and the right hormones were activated. It is a fact that some people can grow back teeth and others are capable of regenerating tonsils but not to the same extent as a salamander can regenerate a whole limb rather quickly.