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A Giant Step in Cloning

Posted by samzenpus on from the a-barrel-full-of-clones dept.

mernil writes "The Independent reports: "A technical breakthrough has enabled scientists to create for the first time dozens of cloned embryos from adult monkeys, raising the prospect of the same procedure being used to make cloned human embryos."

18 of 239 comments (clear)

  1. hmmmm by theheadlessrabbit · · Score: 5, Funny

    now all we need to work on is cloning typewriters, and we'll be set!

    --
    -I only code in BASIC.-
    1. Re:hmmmm by tacocat · · Score: 3, Funny

      I was thinking more like .. Now I can finally get my very own Angelina Jolie, Rachael Welch, Ingred Bergman.. Whatever suits my fancy

    2. Re:hmmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      you can also be rejected by clones of Jessica Alba and Halle Berry. Whatever suits your fancy.

    3. Re:hmmmm by rrkap · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah, after you've raised them as your daughters o_0 they still don't have accelerated aging, or accelerated education ;)

      You're right, not everybody has the patience of Woody Allen...

      --
      I like my beverages with warning labels!
  2. The English canon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I for one welcome our Shakespeare-typing overlords.

  3. hmmmmm . . . by spamking · · Score: 5, Funny

    If Michael Jackson is cloned, is it against the law for him to play with himself as a child?

    some of these are good

  4. one problem by ILuvRamen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They still haven't solved the #1 problem with cloning though: why would I want another one of me? My exact genes aren't that great as is.

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    Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
    1. Re:one problem by vadim_t · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Replacement parts.

      Grow a clone without a brain to avoid the ethical implications. Keep it safely stored (frozen in liquid nitrogen?). If you need a transplant of anything you can get a new organ, fully compatible, and even better than before (lungs undamaged by smoke/contamination, etc).

      Might work as a way of living longer. Heart is not doing so well when you're 70? Replace it with one from a 20 year old clone.

      I could see modified clones being used. A gender swapped clone, a clone with blue eyes, fixed genetics to avoid diseases and cancer, etc. If you could move your brain to a new clone and keep this up long enough I could see people building a "perfect self", by fixing all the defects in each new iteration that they found in the previous body.

    2. Re:one problem by BigDogCH · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Grow a clone without a brain............."

      The problem here is clear. What if I need a brain because of a stroke, head trauma, or something?

      The key here is clearly to keep the clone sedated, and do a nightly robocopy or rsync to keep it updated. Also, the clone should be stored offsite, probably in a fireproof vault.

  5. Re:Now if only... by niceone · · Score: 3, Funny

    Heh, not quite quick enough there. Need more monkeys.

    --
    ccalam - acoustic versions of new songs.
  6. and not only for the typewriters. by edittard · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm sure there's a patent infringement there.
    ... and not only for the typewriters.

    If you are interested in licensing any of our simian IP, please contact the departmental representative, Mr Anthony Abbot, directly.

    Yours sincerely,

            God.
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    At the bottom of the /. main page it says 'Yesterday's News'. Well they got that right.
  7. Re:Hmmm. by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 3, Insightful

    hint: an iceman clone created and grown today will know as much about life 5000 years ago as you or I.

    However I do see us attempting to clone wooly mammoths and dodos and other extinct animals.

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
  8. Slashdotted by hey0you0guy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here is the BBC News article since the original article seems to be down. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7094215.stm

  9. Re:Hmmm. by hairykrishna · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Not that interesting - the humans 5000 years ago were basically identical to now. Only real differences are diet and lifestyle related

    --
    "Physics is to math as sex is to masturbation." -R. Feynman
  10. To-do list... by Wdomburg · · Score: 5, Funny

    1. Clone monkeys.
    2. Give them wings.
    3. Fly my pretties, fly!!! Fly! Fly! Fly!

  11. Scarlet by CarpetShark · · Score: 4, Funny

    why would I want another one of me?


    You're thinking about this cloning thing all wrong. Think Scarlet Johannson.
  12. Brother-in-Law by WED+Fan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It'd be interesting to add a few Einsteins to the world

    The problem with clones is that to get an exact duplicate, they'd have to give them and exact life experience. Won't happen.

    Clone Einstein, and you're most likely to get my brother-in-law. He is a genius. Smart. But the laziest son-of-a-bitch you are likely to meet. He was tested early, school came easy, everyone treated him like a prodigy. As a result, he coasted through life. Ended up NOT going to college and becoming a half-rate photographer. Without the formal higher education, he is still good. He can read science journals and expound upon the theory behind the articles and hold his own with some laser physicists I know. But, he lacks the drive and the imagination to really put that brain to work.

    The Einstein that we had was a unique individual, the sum of all his experiences. Clone him now, give him an XBox 360 Mark V with Quantum Interface and he'll play Halo 10 all day long and never amount to anything.

    Besides, cloning takes the fun out of reproduction. I heartily recommend it to those of you who haven't tried the real thing, yet.

    --
    Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
  13. I helped build that! by daoine · · Score: 3, Informative
    I work for the company (CRi) that produced the polarized light imaging system (Oosight) that this guy credits for much of this new cloning success. In case anyone's interested the product website is here. and has links to movies of actual monkey eggs being manipulated and having their original DNA removed.

    The basic principle is that the highly-ordered molecules on which the chromosomes are mounted are birefringent (they change the polarization-state of light), so if you know what the original polarization state was and if you can measure the state afterwards, then you can detect those molecules, even though they are transparent. As the BBC article says, this means you don't need to use toxic dyes to find them (which is obviously a bad idea, if you want the egg to actually survive the process).