Dolly the sheep

Dolly (5 July 1996 – 14 February 2003), a ewe, was the first mammal to have been successfully cloned from an adult cell. She was cloned at the Roslin Institute in Scotland and lived there until her death at the age of six. Scientists announced her birth on 22 February 1997.

Legacy

After the cloning was successfully demonstrated by Dolly's creators, many other large mammals have been cloned, including horses and bulls. Cloning has left the realm of science fiction and has become a realistic technology, with its risks and promises of great medical progress. Cloning has already become an option for preserving animals that may become extinct and bringing back to life replicas of pets, such as cats and dogs. Work is slowly progressing on the project to recreate the mammoth and other prehistoric animals. In regards to humans, despite the continued opposition, cloning may become a valid reproductive strategy in addition to in vitro fertilisation, surrogacy, adoption and traditional reproduction. It has also paved the way to make the controversial practice of genetic engineering of children more acceptable, first by genetic screening to decrease the risks of a hereditary disease, second to ensure genetic compatibility for stem cell transplantation to siblings http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/05/05/lab_helps_create_babies_to_aid_sick_siblings/ and potentially to improving the genetic code of the children to prolong their life expectancy, strengthen the immune system, and increase their intelligence.

Related Topics:
Horse - Bulls - Science fiction - Technology - Medical - Extinct - Pets - Cat - Dog - Mammoth - Prehistoric - Human - In vitro fertilisation - Surrogacy - Adoption - Genetic engineering - Hereditary disease - Stem cell - Life expectancy - Immune system - Intelligence

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