(July 20, 2009 at 5:11 pm)Faith Tester Wrote: I have asked this question to a lot of people. Why do we see tonnes of intellectuals (scientists, philosophers, doctors) who are all perfectly sane fall for ideas like birth without sex
Parthenogenesis, virgin birth, is a real phenomena witnessed by scientists.
Many reptiles, fish, insects, and of course plants can give birth without a male and apparantly has been induced artificially by scientists in other species.
Quote:Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction in which females produce eggs that develop without fertilization. A parthenogenetic offspring is sometimes called a parthenogen. Parthenogenesis is seen to occur naturally in aphids, daphnia, rotifers, and some other invertebrates, as well as in many plants. Komodo dragons and the hammerhead- and blacktip sharks have recently been added to the list of vertebrates—along with several genera of fish, amphibians, and reptiles—that exhibit differing forms of asexual reproduction, including true parthenogenesis, gynogenesis, and hybridogenesis (an incomplete form of parthenogenesis). As with all types of asexual reproduction, there are both costs (low genetic diversity and therefore susceptibility to adverse mutations that might occur) and benefits (reproduction without the need for a male) associated with parthenogenesis.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenogenesis