Like a Virgin

Most cultures tell the tale of a maiden who gives birth untouched by a man, and in the wild there are plenty of creatures turkeys, Komodo dragons, and the Jesus Christ lizard (which even walks on water) that take various approaches to making babies without having sex. Soon, humans will have that option, too. In Like a Virgin, biologist and science writer Aarathi Prasad examines inconceivable ideas about conception, from a Renaissance recipe for creating a child (bury semen in manure for forty days) to the search for a real-life virgin mother in the 1950s. She then takes us to maverick, cutting-edge labs that are today inventing sex-less reproduction, from manufactured eggs to artificial wombs and beyond. Like a Virgin delivers an astonishing exploration of the mysteries of sex and evolution past, present, and future.