Women have moved closer to conceiving without men after scientists created the first virgin births in mammals.
Mice have raised the possibility of virgin births in humans
Chinese experts have carried out virgin births in mice to create offspring from an unfertilised egg and one scientist has claimed that immaculate conception could be possible for females within the next decade.
However, it took the researchers hundreds of attempts to create three mice that survived into adulthood and women who try the technique have been warned that they could face several miscarriages.
Professor John Parrington - from the University of Oxford - said: "We are not yet in a world where we no longer need men, but this breakthrough in mice would be possible in women.
"There would be ethical and legal reasons why we can't do this yet, and women would probably have a lot of miscarriages before having a child at this stage but, if this technique keeps being refined, virgin births for women could potentially be possible in a decade."