Imagine a world where mothers don’t need fathers to create life—a world where females alone carry the spark of the next ...

Some insects, like aphids, are both asexual and sexual reproducers ... which consists only of females who reproduce by parthenogenesis. They appear to be the only known unisexual reptile.

Female hammerhead sharks have been observed giving birth without mating, a survival strategy in the absence of males. Blacktip sharks have also demonstrated virgin births through parthenogenesis.

It has the tongue-twisting name "parthenogenesis." Kiessling: Parthenogenesis is the term that's applied to an egg that activates spontaneously on its own. This is relatively common in women.