March 22, 2017
(Science Daily) – Since Dolly the Sheep was cloned in 1996, the question of whether human reproductive cloning should be banned or pursued has been the subject of international debate. In an attempt to address the issue, the UN formulated … Read More
February 23, 2017
(Pew Research Center) – Twenty years ago today, the world’s first clone made from the cells of an adult mammal made her public debut. Dolly, a Finn Dorset sheep, was introduced to the public in 1997 after scientists at the … Read More
February 21, 2017
(The Scientist) – The implications of cloning animals in our society were self-evident from the start. Our advancing ability to reprogram adult, already-specialized cells and start them over as something new may one day be the key to creating cells … Read More
February 17, 2017
(The Economist) – IN THE summer of 1996 Karen Mycock, a cell biologist, was attending a wedding in the Scottish highlands. Returning to her hotel to change her hat, she found a fax pushed under her door. It said: “She’s … Read More
February 17, 2017
(The Economist) – Such methods separate sexual intercourse from reproduction. Most of them bring the possibility of choosing which embryo will live, and which will die. At first they can seem bewildering—disgusting, even. But one thing experience has shown is … Read More
February 14, 2017
NanoEthics (vol. 10, no. 3, 2016) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “A Lay Ethics Quest for Technological Futures: About Tradition, Narrative and Decision-Making” by Simone van der Burg “Contrasting Medical Technology with Deprivation and Social Vulnerability. Lessons for the Ethical … Read More
August 31, 2016
(Eurkealert) – A new bioethical framework for addressing concerns surrounding potentially revolutionary research on human-animal embryos is publishing on Aug. 30, 2016 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology. Human-animal embryos, called chimeras, can be produced when human stem cells are … Read More
August 6, 2016
(U.S. News & World Report) – So why did it never catch on? One reason is that researchers have a hard time arguing that there’s a dire social need for cloning a whole person: Much that can be learned from … Read More
July 26, 2016
(The Scientist) – When Dolly the sheep became the world’s first cloned animal, some researchers raised concerns that animals conceived using this technique would suffer health problems as they aged. But new research suggests that animals cloned using somatic cell … Read More
July 5, 2016
(Medical Xpress) – When Dolly the cloned sheep was born 20 years ago on July 5, many hailed mankind’s new-found mastery over DNA as a harbinger of medical miracles such as lab-grown transplant organs. Others trembled at the portent of … Read More
June 9, 2016
(Medical Xpress) – A new IVF-based technique is likely to lead to normal pregnancies and reduce the risk that babies born will have mitochondrial disease, according to researchers at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Mitochondrial Disease at Newcastle University. Published … Read More
April 19, 2016
Bioethicist Wendell Wallach talks about the moral challenges of Artificial Intelligence. http://www.thirteen.org/openmind/science/angels-and-demons-of-a-i/5395/
April 11, 2016
(Wired) – Gregory Pence is a leading expert on bioethics, and back in 2000 he was the only bioethicist to testify before Congress against a bill that would have outlawed human cloning. Pence rolls his eyes at most science fiction, … Read More
February 2, 2016
Journal of Law and the Biosciences (vol. 2, no. 3, 2016) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Neuroscience and Behavioral Genetics in US Criminal Law: An Empirical Analysis” by Nita A. Farahany “Dolly and Alice” by Dan L. Burk “Marginally … Read More
December 28, 2015
(NBC News) – The head of a Chinese firm that is building the world’s biggest animal cloning factory has vowed not to use the technology on people — for now, at least. Biotech company Boyalife Group’s $30 million facility in … Read More
December 7, 2015
(MIT Technology Review) – The basics, as reported by the AFP: Chinese company Boyalife is planning a massive cloning facility in Tianjin, with the goal of producing one million cows by 2020 in order to supplement China’s meat supply. This … Read More
December 2, 2015
(Yahoo! News) – The Chinese scientist behind the world’s biggest cloning factory has technology advanced enough to replicate humans, he told AFP, and is only holding off for fear of the public reaction. Boyalife Group and its partners are building … Read More
November 6, 2015
(Physorg) – Citing the “tremendous potential” of research on human stem cells in nonhuman embryos, scientists and a bioethicist from the Stanford University School of Medicine have co-authored a letter urging the removal of funding restrictions imposed on such research … Read More
October 1, 2015
(NPR) – Sooam’s dog-cloning service is controversial. It was started by Hwang Woo Suk, who became a scientific pariah in 2006, when his claim that he had created the first cloned human embryos in 2004 to produce human embryonic stem … Read More
September 22, 2015
The New Atlantis (no. 46, Summer 2015) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Preface: Cloning Then and Now” by the Witherspoon Council “Part One: Scientific and Historical Background” by the Witherspoon Council “Part Two: The Case Against Cloning-to-Produce-Children” by … Read More
July 16, 2015
(UPI) – Controversial South Korean stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk is at the center of another dispute, this time involving the cloning of mammoths. Hwang, who successfully cloned an Afghan hound in 2005, had sought the help of another South … Read More
July 15, 2015
(Los Angeles Times) – Doctors have limited options for treating mitochondrial disease, but a team led by a prominent innovator may have taken an important step toward developing new therapies: rewinding diseased cells from patients to create pluripotent stem cells with … Read More
June 29, 2015
(Medical Daily) – While the ethics and legality of human cloning are blurry, the science behind the idea is quite clear, with all research suggesting the practice is possible. Scientists have already cloned human embryos and many believe creating fully … Read More
June 2, 2015
(Politico) – Americans are increasingly taking their laissez-faire attitude outside of the marketplace and into the moral arena. A new Gallup poll released Monday found the numbers of Americans that believe cloning humans, polygamy, having extramarital affairs, and suicide are … Read More
April 17, 2015
(The New Yorker) – Genetic research has lately progressed so far that, this year, a group of scientists and practitioners gathered in Napa, California, to urge a ban on modifying the genetic material of human sperm, eggs, and embryos, a … Read More