Tuesday 24 December 2013

Science & TV: Fun Facts About Christmas We All Should Know -- Virgin Birth!

Is this true? Let's see!
Image from buzzdixon

Hello! Everyone! It's Christmas again! Remember that in 2009, I wrote Vocabulary: Christmas Stuff and in 2011, I wrote Vocabulary: Christmas Words To Learn and  taught you guys some words related to Christmas? If you don't, do feel free to check out the post. It has some excellent Mr. Bean videos there!

Today, I want to share some fun facts about Christmas!

First, let's check out this video.



What about it? In the movie, the female dinosaurs were able to breed without a male dinosaur. So what's special about turkey? Well, female turkeys can give birth to babies without the fertilisation of a male counterpart! It's called parthenogenesis or commonly known as "virgin birth".




Although the chances is not very high, 19% according to the video and few will actually hatch, it is one miracle of nature!!

"Life Finds A Way" -- Dr. Malcolm @ Jurassic Park

In fact, virgin birth does not only happen in turkey, it occurs in honeybees, flatworms, snails, sharks and gecko.

What about humans? Can humans reproduce through parthenogenesis? Wanna ask Dr. House about it? He did talk about it in this Season 5 Episode 11.


Dr. House said "no", but what does science say?




Well, there you have it! Virgin birth has never been proven to occur in humans but it is scientifically plausible though extremely rare.

So, don't even think about faking anyone this Christmas with "virgin birth"!

Have a happy Christmas Eve and Merry Christmas!


Vocabulary:
virgin birth -- (n) see parthenogenesis
parthenogenesis -- (n) [U] a form of asexual reproduction in which growth and development of embryos occur without fertilization.




Resources:

Jurassic Park @ IMDb
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107290/

Top 5 Favorite Turkey Facts @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCPQ208K9Gw

Life finds a Way - Jeff Goldblum - Jurassic Park (1993) movie scene @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkWeMvrNiOM

Does Virgin Birth Exist? @ YouTube
http://youtu.be/ql2HPVSAiog

Pathenogenisis @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathenogenisis

House MD Season 5 Episode 11 Joy To The World.avi @ NowVideo
http://www.nowvideo.sx/video/bqucnxbrhj0wi

Vocabulary: Christmas Stuff @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2009/12/vocabulary-christmas-stuff.html

Vocabulary: Christmas Words To Learn @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2011/12/vocabulary-christmas-words-to-learn.html

Food & Animal: Hasma & Common House Gecko @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/04/food-animal-hasma-common-house-gecko.html