Hammerhead shark gave ‘virgin birth’

I got this from National Geographic and I must say it made my day. Never thought animals could have virgin birth as well.

A hammerhead shark born in a Nebraska zoo in 2001 was the result of a so-called virgin birth, new DNA evidence shows.

The finding marks the first confirmed case of a female shark fertilizing her own eggs and giving birth without sperm from a male, a process known as parthenogenesis.

The baby bonnethead shark, a type of hammerhead, was born at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska.

Scientists were able to match the baby’s DNA with one of three potential mothers in the tank.

But none of these females had had any contact with a male for more than three years.

Scientists at first believed the birth had come about as a result of a female shark’s well-documented ability to store sperm for months.

Amazing right? Too bad the baby shark lost his life not long before it could even enjoy the ocean. But this recent discovery really drove the point home that the world is full of wonderful and mysterious things. Truly, life is beautiful and we should try to make it even more so rather than destroy it and make it ugly.

Finally, Yahoo! launches Web Messenger

I have been waiting for this to happen and now it is finally here. Yahoo! finally released its browser version of the Yahoo! Messenger through http://webmessenger.yahoo.com. I have been confronted with many questions before from a friend on how to be able to communicate online without using the messenger software. There was Meebo so we were quite thrilled. But there are things in YM that Meebo could not provide. Webcam features and even conferencing seem to be pretty challenging through Meebo.

But right now, this browser version of the Messenger is truly a lifesaver for many of my colleagues. I just can’t wait to tell the news to them.