Saturday, January 01, 2005

Cloning. Do it.

After looking up whatever in the world the Raelians could be (it's a strange cult), I discovered a blog-worthy topic: cloning. Fun fact: the Raelians are the group that has claimed to have successfully cloned a human baby. Strange, like I told you.

For the many who are aware of cloning but have little idea of what it really is and how it's done, let me give you this link (there is some flash demos full of info on the side bar). Or better yet, let me sum it up for you.

To clone something (or soon to be somebody), a male and a female are required. Well, parts of them are. There is the cell that is required from the male, and this will be put in the female's egg. But wait! Not too fast! First, they take the DNA from the egg. They throw this away, as it is not needed. The next step is to combine the sperm and the egg by electrifying them. Literally, electricity is used to bind them together. This, becoming an embyro, is put inside the uterus of a woman. Nine months later, or every five seconds if you're a rabbit, a clone of the male has been created.

In this process, as far as I know and can see, it is only possible (at the moment) to clone a male. This also (for now), will result in a male from a male being born. But it might be possible in the future to clone a male and have a female be born (with all the same genetic material exclding gender). This site I found interesting, and the second part of it tackles that question to an extent. They are still very unsure, this scientific breakthrough is still in its very early stages. I know this may sound silly, but it's a very exciting time for medical research (and cures).

This really is a medical breakthrough we will accomplish, because as was mentioned some during the elections, stem cell research is depending (to a good extent) on cloning to be able to create those wonderful cures we envision.

To do this, we would require a person with medical needs. The CNN example is a heart condition, and I hope they won't mind me restating their information. Okay, I've memorized a bit, and here we go. To first cure you of your terrible heart condition, we would need DNA from you. This would be very easy to get, as it would be simple enough to extract some DNA from your skin. Then, the DNA cell would be put in the nucleus-free (and therefor DNA free) female egg. After being electrified, or a special bath in chemicals, the embryo would be "destroyed" as you have heard thrown around. What really happens is the embyro would be left out to decay, adnd what would be left is some stem cells. These stem cells can be used in any part of the body, in this case your heart. The new cells would repair the heart and your condition would be vanquished.

My take: this whole "curing diseases" thing sounds pretty swell. But again, we are in our very first stages. We have successfully cloned animals. We want to cure health conditions. What I would do as a scientist (if I were a scientist) is to find an animal with some health condtion. If I can cure the rat with heart disease, I'll be more sure that I can do the same on a human.

Your take: comment on this please, I'd love to hear your input. Also, if you know more about this cloning business than I do (I know there are many people out there), I will graciously listen to any pointers, corrections or input you have. If you've learned something, tell me, and it will have made my day.

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