Mouse sperm need a molecular VIP pass to reach the egg membrane

In most animals and plants, the life cycle of an individual begins with fertilization, when egg and sperm fuse to combine their genetic material. Together, they form the zygote, the first cell of an embryo that will eventually ...

Scientists make embryos from non-egg cells

Scientists have shown for the first time that embryos can be made from non-egg cells, a discovery that challenges two centuries of received wisdom.

Cell fusion discovery could improve agricultural production

An international research team has observed cell fusion in flowering plants for the first time in more than a century. The discovery demystifies how plants prevent the attraction of excessive pollen tubes after a successful ...

Is virgin birth possible? Yes (unless you are a mammal)

Christmas seems an appropriate time to ask whether it's biologically possible to have a virgin birth. And you may be surprised to hear that it is possible – just not for humans, or any other mammals.

Reconstructing the life history of a single cell

Researchers have developed new methods to trace the life history of individual cells back to their origins in the fertilised egg. By looking at the copy of the human genome present in healthy cells, they were able to build ...

The ups and downs of getting grumpy bears to have sex

There is nothing intrinsic to pandas that makes them bad at breeding. It is true that they only have one menstrual cycle each year, but this is true of many creatures. Animals that have multiple cycles per year, such as humans, ...

More 'choice' than chance in broadcast spawning

Chemical signals used by the eggs of broadcast spawning invertebrates to assist sperm in fertilisation could also play a role in sexual selection, or mate choice.

Protecting cells from their neighbors

Almost all organisms evolve from a single cell, a fertilised egg. In the first hours after fertilisation, the fate of its future development is determined. It is dictated by the separation of cells that will become sperm ...