....but it also ties to our past and mythological stories put to manuscript. In a special report we are investigating, important revelations are made.
A laboratory mouse born by virgin birth - that is without benefit of sperm, male chromosomes or male mating - has developed to adulthood and reproduced normally, according to a report in Nature today.
The mouse, called Kaguya, is the daughter of two female mice and is the first case of successful parthenogenesis or virgin birth in a mammal.
Virgin birth is not uncommon in insects, reptiles and amphibians, and has even been reported in birds.
Tomohiro Kono, of Tokyo University of Agriculture, and colleagues from Japan and Korea, used the eggs of 600 mice in their experiment.
From these, only two fatherless mice survived to birth. One was killed for closer study. The other was Kaguya, named after a character in a Japanese fairy tale.