Short answers, pulled from the story.
Kalanchoe pinnata is a tiny plant no larger than a centimeter that sprouts from the edge of a leaf to create a complete new life without a single mate. This plant demonstrates a form of asexual reproduction that allows for rapid population growth while challenging the definition of an individual.
Sexual reproduction evolved because the benefits of mixing genes must outweigh the massive disadvantage of producing fewer offspring compared to asexual methods. This genetic mixing allows populations to adapt to parasites and diseases through the Red Queen hypothesis and the lottery principle proposed by George C. Williams.
Binary fission is a process where bacteria divide into two identical copies to ensure survival, while budding involves a new organism growing out of the parent's body before detaching to live independently. Budding is found in complex invertebrates like the hydra and is also utilized by yeasts and jellyfish to create genetically identical copies.
Allogamy is the fertilization of flowers through the transfer of pollen from one plant to the ovum of a different plant, introducing new genetic combinations. Autogamy is self-fertilization that occurs in hermaphroditic organisms where the two gametes fused in fertilization come from the same individual.
Semelparity is a strategy where some organisms reproduce only once in their lifetime and often die shortly after reproduction, such as annual plants and certain species of salmon. Iteroparity is a strategy where organisms produce offspring in successive cycles, such as perennial plants and animals that survive over multiple seasons.
In 2004, Japanese scientists combined two mouse eggs to produce daughter mice, and in 2010, American scientists used genetically manipulated stem cells to produce viable mouse offspring from two fathers. In 2018, Chinese scientists created 29 female mice from two mice mothers, and in 2023, Japanese scientists created mouse pups from two mice fathers which grew into adulthood.