Like a Virgin

by Prasad, Aarathi

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  3. Desperately Seeking a Virgin Birth

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  4. The Concert in the Egg

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  5. Secrets of the Womb

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  6. Out of the Test Tube

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  7. Out of Time

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  8. Real Men Bear Children

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  9. Going Solo

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  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  This book would not have been possible without the help and support of many people. I am indebted to you.

  For inspiration, for your ears and eyes, for being intrepid archaeologists of obscure journals, for helping me pi
n down the science, and for your patience and many kindnesses: Professor Armand Leroi, Nalini Persad, Lynn Saliba, Dr Robin Lovell-Badge, Dr Evan Harris, Anjali Bhargava, Amanda Hargreaves, Frank Swain, Jessica Hamzelou, Dr Abul Tarafder, Dr David Mann, Mira Samlal and Surian Fletcher-Jones. For sharing your ideas on (some particularly difficult) ethics: Dr Anna Smajdor, Dr John Harris, and Clare Lewis-Jones MBE. For leisurely lunches in the once all-male common room at UCL, sharing J. B. S. Haldane stories and monographs, and contemplating the reproductive biology of the Blessed Virgin: Professor Sam Berry. For fascinating medical and scientific discussions: Professor Darren Griffin, Professor Karim Nayernia, Dr Olga Kapellou, and Dr Allan Pacey.

  My very special thanks also to: Professor John Wood, whom I befriended on a flight to the Bahamas and who quite literally changed the course of my life; Peter Tallack, my literary agent; Marsha Fillion, who commissioned this book while at Oneworld, and my editor, Robin Dennis, who is pure genius; Tara Lumley-Savile, for putting up with me as I worked mornings, evenings, and weekends instead of doing fun things with you like the other mums – my deepest gratitude to you also because you sparked the idea that made me start this book; and Dr João Medeiros, who made me finish it. Thank you, thank you.

  INDEX

  abortion

  adoptions

  Aeschylus

  African bat bug

  AIDS

  Al-Jahiz

  Alexander the Great

  American Civil War

  amino acids

  An Account of the Breeding of Worms in Human Bodies

  Andry, Nicolas

  Angelman syndrome

  aphids, reproduction

  Aristotle

  on atomism

  on fertility

  On the Generation of Animals

  Aristotle’s Masterpiece

  ART (assisted reproductive technology)

  artificial insemination

  artificial life form, first

  Asia Minor

  atomism

  autism

  bacteria

  enterobacteria

  Mycoplasma genitalium

  Salmonella typhi

  Wolbachia

  Baer, Karl Ernst von

  Balfour-Lynn, Stanley Dr

  Bartholin, Thomas

  Beckwith-Wiedemann

  bees

  Beneden, Edouard Van

  Berry, Sam

  Bhalla-Pentley, Melissa

  biological parent, redefining

  bipolar affective disorder

  birds

  birth defects

  Bland, Kim

  Blyth, Professor Eric

  Bosch, Hieronymous

  BrannstrÖm, Mats

  British Fertility Society

  Bronze Age

  Brown, Lesley

  Brown, John

  Brown, Louise Joy

  Brown, Natalie

  Brown University

  Budin, Pierre-Constant

  Buley, Kevin

  Bulletti, Professor Carlo

  Bunker, Chang and Eng

  Butscher, Susanne

  Buttle, Elizabeth

  Caesarean sections

  cancer

  Campbell, Kathleen

  Carson, Sandra

  Celera Genomics

  cells

  copying

  germ

  red blood

  Sertoli

  chickens

  chlamydia

  chromosomes

  abnormalities

  deterioration of Y

  X

  XO

  XY

  XX

  XXX

  XXXX

  Y

  clitoris

  cloning

  contraceptives

  coronary heart disease

  cot death syndrome

  CSF (cytostatic factor)

  Couney, Dr Martin Arthur

  cystic fibrosis

  cytoplasm

  Daily Mail

  Daily Telegraph

  Dalenpatius

  Darwin, Charles

  de la Chapelle syndrome

  De Temperamentis

  de Villeneuve

  diabetes

  Dor Yeshorim

  DNA

  CGG

  Dlk1-Dio3

  eggs, one set of

  Fragile X

  genetic diversity

  human genome

  isolating

  misrepeating

  of ovarian teratomas

  Dolly the sheep

  Down syndrome

  drugs, misuse

  dwarfism

  eclampsia

  pre-

  ectogenesis

  Edwards, Robert

  eggs

  and mammals

  artificial

  buying/trafficking

  creating complete new being

  dividing

  donated

  effects of ageing

  first fertilized outside womb,

  freezing

  from stem cells

  how develop in the body

  numbers in females

  one set of DNA

  predisposed to X or Y

  chromosomes

  declining numbers in females

  regulations concerning

  when formed

  women’s, and evolution

  ejaculation

  ejaculatory duct

  electric ant

  Ellis, Megan

  embryo

  Entozoa

  epigeneics

  epilepsy

  eukaryote

  European Parliament

  Evening Standard

  Evening News

  Experiments Conerning the Generation of Animals

  Fageeh, Dr Wafa

  Fallopian tubes

  families, biological

  fertility

  declining rates

  Fertility First

  foetal alcohol syndrome

  foetus

  Folge, C.

  follicles

  Fragile X syndrome

  Francis I

  frogs

  fruit fly

  FSH (follicle stimulating hormone)

  Galen, Aelius

  De Temperamentis

  Galilei, Galileo

  Gardianul

  gene therapy

  genes

  BRCA1

  cftr

  c-mos

  disorders

  Dlk1-Dio3

  effects on woman’s fertility & sterility

  EYCL3

  expression

  FMR1

  H19

  IGF2

  mhc

  PEG

  recessive

  SOX9

  SRY

  syncytin

  geneticists

  genetics

  genomes

  genomic imprinting

  Girault

  GnRH (gonadotropin-releasing hormone)

  Gould, Stephen Jay

  green swordtail

  Guardianul

  Hackney

  Haldane, J.B.S.

  Ham, Johan

  Hamilton, E.D.

  ‘Hapsburg jaw’

  Hartsoeker, Niklaas

  Harvey, William

  Hawkes, Kristen

  HCG (human chorionic gonatrophin hormone)

  Henry II

  Henry IV

  Henry Doorly Zoo, Nebraska

  Heredity and Politics

  hermaphroditism

  Herodotus

  Herophilos

  Hippocrates

  HIV

  Hohenheim, Phillipus Bombastus von

  HPA (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis)

  Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority

  Human Genome Project

  Hunter, John

  Huntington’s disease

  Huxley, Thomas Henry

  hyenas

  ICSI (intrra-c
ytoplasmic sperm injection)

  immune system

  imprinting

  inbreeding

  incubators

  Independent

  infertility

  INSERM

  insulin

  in vitro-derived cells

  Islam, medieval, biological ideas

  IUI (intra uterine insemination)

  IVF (in vitro fertilization)

  Catholic opposition to

  first IVF baby

  James I

  Japanese Ryukyu spiny rat

  Jefferson Medical College

  Jones, Emmimarie

  Jones, Jayne

  Jones, Monica

  Journal of Virology

  Kaguya the mouse

  Kitab al-Hayawan

  kleptogenesis

  Klinefelter syndrome

  Komodo dragons

  Kono, Tomohiro

  Kuwabara, Professor Yoshinori

  ladybird beetles

  Leeuwenhoek, Antonie

  Liu, Hung-Ching

  lizards

  Loeb, Jacques

  London Zoo

  Lozada, Dr. Géado

  maize

  malaria

  male pregnancy

  Male Nipples and Clitoral Ripples

  mammals

  Marfan syndrome

  Marie Claire

  marine species

  Markert, Clement

  Marmot, Sir Michael

  marriages, consanguineous

  marsupials

  Masui, Yoshio

  Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome

  Mayr, Ernst

  Medici, Catherine de

  Medina, Lina

  meiosis

  melanocortin

  menopause

  MHC molecules

  mice

  microscopes

  miscarriage

  mitosis

  mole vole

  molecules, MHC

  mosquito

  Mosuo

  mothers, and bonding

  moths

  MPF (maturation promoting factor)

  mutations

  natural selection

  Nature Genetics

  Neesen, Dr Victor

  New South Wales Department of