Fun Fact Friday: Cloning Dolly the Sheep

Cloning Dolly the Sheep

Cloning has been a topic of debate for decades. Science fiction movies use it to scare people at the premise that they can be cloned, and then have their lives destroyed by an evil clone. Scientists see cellular replication happen daily at the microscopic level. With this replication, they hypothesized that through a multitude of cellular replication, they can replicate an entire being.

In 1996, Dolly the sheep was cloned at the University of Edinburgh. She is the first mammal replicated from a somatic cell. The process that Dolly was created from results in the nucleus of an adult cell being implanted into a new developed cell. The reprogrammed version of an adult cell, into a stem cell, created a wave of excitement, that stem cells can now be used to treat diseases.

Question of Ethics

Since Dolly, there have been pigs, bulls, and monkeys cloned. The process of cloning is difficult and presents a question of ethics. If a cell can be reprogrammed, what exactly would be the use of clones? Two monkeys were recently cloned in China. Some people claim that coning primates is too close to cloning humans. Some religious people argue that we should not try to play God. The universe will work in ways that humans are not supposed to play with.

The scientific argument is a proponent of cloning. Scientists rationalize cloning that it is able to reprogram cells. Reprogrammed cells may be used to potentially bring back extinct species. Ecosystems are delicate, and bringing back species can be controversial. The possibilities with stem cells are infinite. Reprogrammable cells may help scientists to find a cure for cancer, or auto-immune diseases.

Final Thoughts

Do you think it is a good idea to clone? What are the reasons you don’t think we should clone?