Authors: Aarathi Prasad
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 pin 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-cytoplasmic 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
Primary Industries
New York Times
NHS
North East England Stem Cell Institute
nucleotides
Observer
obesity
oestradiol
oestrogen
Office for National Statistics (UK)
study of lone parents
OHSS (ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome)
Oldham and District General Hospital
On a True Parthenogenesis
On the Generation of Animals
On Viruses, Sex and Motherhood
‘oral conception’
Origen
Ottosson, Eva
Ottosson, Sara
Otway, Nick
ovarian teratomas
ovaries
cancer
cyst
first artificial
tumour
transplants
oxytocin
Owen, Richard
Pacey, Dr Allan
Palais de Beaux Arts
Pancoast, Professor William
Paracelsus
paradox of sex
parasites
Ascaris megalocephala
fetus-in-fetu
Ichthyophonus hoferi
malarial
Mycoplasma genitalium
Plasmodium
Wolbachia
parents, single
parthenogenesis
in human beings (article)
penis
PGD (pre-implantation genetic diagnosis)
PGS (pre-implantation genetic screening)
phenylthiourea
PhilipII, King of Macedon
placenta
eating
Plantades, François de
Plato
Poitiers, Diane de
pregnancy
pregnancy hormone (hCG)
premature babies
brains
breathing problems
Charlotte Wyatt
Priore, Giuseppe Del
progesterone
protein
Queen Charlotte’s Hospital
rats
recessive disorders
Red Queen hypothesis
Renaissance
reproduction
advantages of sexual
and cultural values
and female’s age
and male’s age
declining rates
first life forms
future trends
mothers in their fifties
pre-17th century ideas on
post-17th century ideas on
pre-teen pregnancies
recipe for life
spermless
Royal College of Midwives
Ruakura Agriculture Centre
Savage, Caroline
Schenck, Professor Leopold
schizophrenia
semen
sex, problems for women
sharks
Sheffield University
Sherman, Jerome K.
Siebold, Karl Ernst von
Silber, Dr Sherman
Silver-Russell syndrome
Sims, James Marion
skin layers
Smellie, William
Smith, A.D.
Smith, Richard
snakes
Soranus
sperm
artificial
buying
considered parasite
creation of
donors
early research into
freezing/storing
from stem cells
internet sales
imaginary people in
legal regulations
rapid creation of
‘spermatic worms’
spermatozoa
spindle
Spurway, Helen
Spurway, Jack
SRY
SSC (spermatogonial stem cells)
STDs
stem cells
Steptoe, Dr Patrick
stingless wasp
stinkbugs
stress
Sudden Infant Death syndrome
Sunday Pictorial
surrogacy
tanning
Tarnier, Etienne Stéphane
Taylor, Amillia Sonja
Tehran University
teratomas
Testart, Jacques
test-tube babies
testosterone
Thabit ibn Qurra
thalassaemia
The Concert in the Egg
The Eumenides
The Lancet
Tokyo University of Agriculture
totipotency
Tourette’s syndrome
trophoblast
tuberculosis
turkeys
Turner’s syndrome
University College London
UCLA Medical Center
Universe
University of
Arkansas Medical Center
Bologna
California
Cambridge
Huddersfield
Utah
US Census Bureau