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Human development begins with fertilization, but the fertilized egg does not begin to divide until after it implants in the uterine wall.

a) true
b) false

User Recker
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1 Answer

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Final answer:

The claim is false; human development begins with fertilization, and the fertilized egg, or zygote, begins to divide through cleavage as it moves towards the uterus, before it implants in the uterine wall.

Step-by-step explanation:

The statement that human development begins with fertilization and that the fertilized egg does not begin to divide until after it implants in the uterine wall is false. Human development starts with fertilization when a sperm cell unites with an ovum to create a zygote. This zygote then immediately begins a process known as cleavage, which is a series of mitotic cell divisions. As the zygote travels through the Fallopian tube towards the uterus, it divides to form a morula and subsequently a blastocyst. The blastocyst reaches the uterus, implants into the uterine wall, and continues to develop.

Answering the true or false statement provided: After fertilization occurs, meiosis II is indeed completed allowing the zygote to undergo mitosis and lead to successive cell divisions. Moreover, a fertilized egg that has not yet implanted in the uterus is referred to as a blastocyst, which is the stage just before implantation.

Therefore, it is crucial to understand that the process of cell division starts beforehand, with implantation being a later event in the timeline of early embryonic development.

User Dino Tw
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