It's almost 25 years since the most famous clone on I Earth, Dolly the sheep, was born on a farm in Scotland. It was one small step for lamb, one giant leap for lamb kind. Along with the celebrity bleater came promises of innovative applications, but at the time, no one really knew how cloning would come to be used.
Now, cloning is finally finding its niche. As a growing number of species are cloned, including camels, cats and cattle, companies are springing up to offer commercial cloning services. The practice has become big business.
Around the globe, hundreds of domestic and agricultural animals are cloned every day. As wild species start to be cloned too, it’s thought the technique could even help conservation. But the ethical issues remain as large and divisive as the day that Dolly was born. So how is cell biology’s bête noire making a difference and what should we make of these genetic doppelgängers?
WE’RE ALREADY CLONING ENDANGERED ANIMALS…
In August 2020, a healthy clone of the endangered Przewalski’s horse (pronounced shuh-VAL-skees) was born in Texas. Przewalski’s horses, which are native to the steppes of central Asia, are the last truly ‘wild’ horse species. Around 2,000 remain, but they lack essential genetic diversity because they’re all descended from just 12 wild-caught individuals.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة New Year 2021 من BBC Focus - Science & Technology.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة New Year 2021 من BBC Focus - Science & Technology.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
WHEN'S THE BEST TIME FOR A CAFFEINE HIT?
Wakey-wakey! Find the sweet spot for a coffee shot and science says the benefits are grande
DEAD MAN’S FINGERS
Picture the scene. It's Halloween and you've gone for an ill-advised stroll through the graveyard on the edge of town.
What tipping point are climate scientists most worried about?
Collapsing ice sheets, loss of the Amazon rainforest, melting permafrost.……. Key parts of Earth's climate system are in trouble. Which could trigger disaster first?
PROFESSOR BRIAN COX
The biggest space missions yet are making their way to new parts of the Universe. In his new BBC Two series Solar System, Prof Brian Cox reveals what these explorations are discovering about life in our galactic neighbourhood. Noa Leach sat down with him to talk about the most exciting new missions, life in the Universe and his top behind-the-scenes moments of filming
KEEP YOUR HAIR ON
MORE THAN HALF OF MEN AND MILLIONS OF WOMEN ARE AFFECTED BY HAIR LOSS. IT CAUSES LOW SELF-ESTEEM IN SOME AND ANXIETY IN OTHERS. THANKFULLY, SCIENTISTS AROUND THE WORLD ARE GETTING TO THE ROOTS OF THE PROBLEM WITH PIONEERING NEW TREATMENTS
DAMAGE ASSESSMENT
Could we deflect an asteroid to stop it from hitting Earth? The success of NASA's DART mission suggests so, but only after ESA's soon-to-launch Hera mission has checked the results will we know if this approach to planetary defence is a viable possibility
SAVE THE SHARKS...SAVE THE OCEANS
RUTHLESS PREDATORS, MINDLESS KILLERS, MAN-EATERS... SHARKS HAVE A FEARSOME REPUTATION THAT BEARS LITTLE RELATION TO REALITY. THE TRUTH IS, THESE REMARKABLE CREATURES ARE STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE. BUT OUR WATERS WON'T BE ANY SAFER WITHOUT THEM. IN FACT, THE PLANET'S SEAS WILL BE IN EVEN GREATER JEOPARDY THAN THEY ALREADY ARE
COULD ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE BE THE CURE FOR LONELINESS?
Rates of loneliness are increasing worldwide. But big-tech companies think they have the solution...
Olive mill wastewater: a health-boosting tonic hiding in the leftovers
A by-product of the olive oil production process is packed with compounds that lower your cholesterol and reduce your risk of developing cancer.
Lab-grown meat may be better for livestock, but not necessarily for the environment
The move to put alternative protein on our plates is gathering pace but there are still questions to answer
