Enlarge / Two female Gila spotted whiptail lizards basking in sunlight, Aspidoscelis flagellicauda. This is one of several all-female species of whiptails that reproduce by means of parthenogenesis. (credit: Wild Horizons/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

An Asian water dragon hatched from an egg at the Smithsonian National Zoo, and her keepers were shocked. Why? Her mother had never been with a male water dragon. Through genetic testing, zoo scientists discovered the newly hatched female, born on Aug. 24, 2016, had been produced through a reproductive mode called parthenogenesis.

Parthenogenesis is a Greek word meaning “virgin creation,” but it specifically refers to female asexual reproduction. While many people may assume this behavior is the domain of science fiction or religious texts, parthenogenesis is surprisingly common throughout the tree of life and is found in a variety of organisms, including plants, insects, fish, reptiles and even birds. Because mammals, including human beings, require certain genes to come from sperm, mammals are incapable of parthenogenesis.

Creating offspring without sperm

Sexual reproduction involves a female and a male, each contributing genetic material in the form of eggs or sperm, to create a unique offspring. The vast majority of animal species reproduce sexually, but females of some species are able to produce eggs containing all the genetic material required for reproduction.

Welcome to Ars Cardboard, our weekend look at tabletop games! Check out our complete board gaming coverage at cardboard.arstechnica.com.

Placing workers in the spring to plant vines and build buildings, but sadly no grape-stomping.

The first game from designer Jamey Stegmaier (Scythe, Charterstone) gets the app treatment from Digidiced, whose apps all have the same general look and feel. You’re running a vineyard and placing workers in spring or in winter to plant vines, build up your farm, and run tours for money. It’s a relatively complex economic game at heart, and the app works well, but the tutorial here isn’t detailed enough; it might be better if you have some familiarity with the physical game.

Enlarge / TV stepped in to fill the pandemic-fueled gap in new movie releases with a broad array of entertaining series.
(credit: Photo collage by Aurich Lawson)

Warning: This story includes major spoilers for the series finale of The Good Place. Although we’ve otherwise done our best to avoid spoiling anything too major, please note this list includes specific references to The Mandalorian, The Flight Attendant, Lovecraft Country, The Boys S2, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and The Queen’s Gambit, among others.

This was the year that going to the movies suddenly became a rare event. As we observed in our roundup of the best films in 2020, “The pandemic has ransacked reliable sources of new films, like theaters and film festivals. And any number of major titles we may have looked forward to on January 1, 2020 (from Dune to Top Gun) have instead chosen to push back by at least 12 months.” Fortunately, TV was there to pick up the slack and keep pandemic-weary viewers entertained at home with more quality content than ever before—much of it from streaming platforms rather than traditional broadcast television.

It’s a trend that has been building for some time, but the streaming wars are now in full swing. Just two broadcast offerings made our year-end list, although CBS’ streaming platform, CBS All Access, made its mark with two of its Star Trek franchise programs. Netflix dominates with nine entries, followed by HBO/HBO Max (5), Amazon (3), and Disney+/ESPN+ (2), with Hulu/FX getting a category all its own. Heck, even YouTube gets a nod this year with Philadelphia Sixers Matisse Thybulle’s series of videos documenting life in the NBA bubble.