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[Dave]

Fascinating (if unnecessarily jokey) article on the origin of sex.

Some snippets:
Before sex, life seemed to manage fine by employing asexual reproduction -- the cloning of offspring without the help of a partner.

The benefits of asexual reproduction:
For one thing, there's no need for a partner -- no butting of horns, no beating of the chest, no late nights at the bar. Reproduction is virtually guaranteed. Also, when desirable traits evolve, they are not quickly diluted by evolution. Your offspring are just like you. Exact clones.

Cons:
* Slow evolution due to accidental mutations.
*It can also limit a population's ability to survive severe environmental change.
*Sex, on the other hand, allows plants and animals to evolve quickly, because the gene pool mixes and the fitter survive.

When things get rough, a population of organisms adapts to handling a few mutations, while also ensuring that many mutations will be self-destructive.

Comet or asteroid impacts could have stressed asexual organisms enough to send them down the path of sexual reproduction after forcing a flurry of genetic mutations, the study shows. Heavy doses of radiation might also have done the trick.

[Deb]

I kept reading "organism" as "orgasm"...