<h2>Welcome Back</h2>
Last year, scientists found a 42,000-year-old Lena Horse foal — those are extinct, by the way — frozen in Siberian permafrost.
Now, they hope that they can clone the long-dead horse back into existence, <a href="https://gizmodo.com/liquid-blood-extracted-from-42-000-year-old-foal-found-1834080332">according to Gizmodo</a>, using liquid blood samples researchers extracted from the horse&#8217;s surprisingly well-preserved heart.
<h2>Horse to Water</h2>
In addition to liquid blood, scientists conducting the autopsy found intact organs and tissues.
&#8220;We can now claim that this is the best-preserved Ice Age animal ever found in the world,&#8221; Semyon Grigoyev, head of the Mammoth Museum in Yakutsk, Russia, told Russian news agency TASS, as per <a href="https://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/news/unique-in-palaeontology-liquid-blood-found-inside-a-prehistoric-42000-year-old-foal/">The Siberian Times</a>.
The one to two-week-old foal likely drowned in mud that then froze, keeping the horse on ice for thousands of years.
<h2>Horsin&#8217; Around</h2>
Collecting liquid blood doesn&#8217;t mean that scientists can definitely clone a Lena Horse back into the world — the researchers will still need to make sure that the blood contains viable cells that can then be grown in a lab.
Gizmodo reports that the researchers behind the project, who are also working to <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/scientists-cloning-woolly-mammoth">resurrect woolly mammoths</a>, have tried and failed to grow such cells 20 different times.
READ MORE: <a href="https://gizmodo.com/liquid-blood-extracted-from-42-000-year-old-foal-found-1834080332">Liquid Blood Extracted From 42,000-Year-Old Foal Found Frozen in Siberia</a> [Gizmodo]
More on cloning: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/scientists-cloning-woolly-mammoth">Scientists Just Came Closer Than Ever to Cloning a Woolly Mammoth</a>

"We can now claim that this is the best-preserved Ice Age animal ever found in the world."

Scientists plan to clone extinct horse using 42,000-year-old blood

*Whinnying Intensifies*

Siberian scientists conducted an autopsy of a 42,000-year-old foal of an extinct horse, and found that it's so well-preserved they may be able to clone it.

Scientists Plan to Clone Extinct Horse Using 42,000-Year-Old Blood

An ancient foal may have been so well-preserved that viable cells from it can be cloned.

<h2>Clone Army</h2>
Chinese officials cloned a top-performing police dog, <a href="http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1142709.shtml">state media announced</a>, with the goal of stamping out genetically identical dog cops. The pup, named Kunxun, is a clone of the &#8220;Sherlock Holmes of police dogs,&#8221; <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-china-science-clone/china-clones-sherlock-holmes-police-dog-to-cut-training-times-state-media-idUKKCN1R1079">according to Reuters</a>.
She&#8217;s just started police dog training, to see whether the original dog&#8217;s aptitude for drug detection and crowd control have carried over.
<h2>Dog Backlog</h2>
Kunxun was born in December in an experiment carried out by Sinogene Biotechnology and Yunnan Agricultural University and supported by the government.
It&#8217;s a genetic copy of a 7-year-old dog named Huahuangma that won accolades as a &#8220;first-class meritorious dog&#8221; for investigating homicide cases, <a href="http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1142709.shtml">per</a> Chinese state-run paper Global Times. Tests show Kunxun&#8217;s DNA as 99.9% identical to Huahuangma&#8217;s.
<h2>K-9 Line</h2>
To the Chinese government, the project comes down to money.
Training a regular police dog in China costs the equivalent of $60,000, according to the Global Times, and takes up to five years. If the experiment&#8217;s a success, the goal is &#8220;mass production&#8221; of cloned police dogs.
READ MORE: <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-china-science-clone/china-clones-sherlock-holmes-police-dog-to-cut-training-times-state-media-idUKKCN1R1079">China clones &#8216;Sherlock Holmes&#8217; police dog to cut training times &#8211; state media</a> [Reuters] 

More on cloned dogs: <a href="https://futurism.com/clone-dog-barbra-streisand">Wanna Clone Your Dog Like Barbra Streisand? Here Are Four Things You Need to Know.</a>

If the experiment is a success, the goal widely cloned police dogs.

China clones top police dog, with goal of "mass production"

Clone Wars

Chinese officials have cloned a top-performing police dog, state media announced, with the goal of stamping out genetically identical dog cops.

China Clones Top Police Dog, With Goal of “Mass Production”

The goal is to stamp out perfect, identical K-9 units.

<h2>Cool Discovery</h2>
In 2011, researchers discovered the frozen body of a woolly mammoth in Siberian permafrost.
Now, a team of Japanese scientists has <a href="https://www.afp.com/en/news/826/mammoth-moves-frozen-cells-come-life-only-just-doc-1ei3xa1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">coaxed biological reactions</a> from the mammoth&#8217;s 28,000-year-old cells — making it more likely than ever that we could one day bring the extinct species back from the dead.
<h2>Active Cells</h2>
In a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-40546-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paper</a> published Monday in the journal Scientific Reports, the team from Japan&#8217;s Kindai University describes how it placed cell nuclei from the preserved mammoth into mouse egg cells.
Of the several dozen cells injected, five showed signs of the biological activity that takes place just prior to cell division.
&#8220;This suggests that, despite the years that have passed, cell activity can still happen and parts of it can be recreated,&#8221; researcher Kei Miyamoto <a href="https://www.afp.com/en/news/826/mammoth-moves-frozen-cells-come-life-only-just-doc-1ei3xa1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told AFP</a>.
<h2>Mammoth Task</h2>
Miyamoto says his team now &#8220;want[s] to try various approaches&#8221; to see if it can actually bring a mammoth to life, but he cautions that scientists still have a long way to go before they&#8217;ll be able to resurrect this extinct species — if such a feat is even possible.
&#8220;We are yet to see even cell divisions,&#8221; he told AFP. &#8220;I have to say we are very far from recreating a mammoth.&#8221;
Still, if we can resurrect the wooly mammoth, there&#8217;s a chance the species could help us <a href="https://futurism.com/glimpse-deextinction-mammoths-global-warming-glimpse-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">curb global warming</a> — making it a goal well worth pursuing.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.afp.com/en/news/826/mammoth-moves-frozen-cells-come-life-only-just-doc-1ei3xa1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mammoth moves: frozen cells come to life, but only just</a> [AFP]
More on cloning mammoths: <a href="https://futurism.com/glimpse-deextinction-mammoths-global-warming-glimpse-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Glimpse: How an Army of Resurrected Mammoths Could Curb Global Warming</a>

They've coaxed activity from 28,000-year-old mammoth cells.

Scientists just came closer than ever to cloning a woolly mammoth

Special Species

Researchers have coaxed biological reactions from the cells of a preserved wooly mammoth, putting us one step closer to cloning the extinct species.

Scientists Just Came Closer Than Ever to Cloning a Woolly Mammoth

The species could help us curb global warming — if we can resurrect it.

<h2>Primate Problem</h2>
In January, we reported on a <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/cloned-monkeys-gene-edited-chinese" target="_blank" rel="noopener">controversial video</a> featuring five newborn monkeys, all of which are clones of a single monkey genetically engineered with CRISPR to cause problems with its circadian rhythms. The monkey clones are clearly not well, exhibiting signs of anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia-like behaviors.
Some in the scientific community <a href="https://gizmodo.com/chinas-latest-cloned-monkey-experiment-is-an-ethical-me-1831987348" target="_blank" rel="noopener">questioned</a> whether the research was ethical, and now the lead scientist behind the study is defending his work — which he suggests will cost fewer monkeys their lives than standard research methods.
<h2>Cloning and CRISPR</h2>
In a new <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2194061-meet-the-man-who-made-crispr-monkey-clones-to-study-depression/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with New Scientist, Hung-Chun Chang of the Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai notes that cynomolgus monkeys, the kind used for his team&#8217;s study, are the most commonly used primate model for research. It&#8217;s legal everywhere in the world, he said, to edit the species&#8217; genes.
Given those two points, researchers might actually be able to subject far fewer monkeys to testing if they can reliably gene edit and then clone them.
&#8220;Every year, thousands of monkeys are subject to drug testing,&#8221; Chang told New Scientist. &#8220;And because of the genetic variations among individuals, we need to repeat the testing in many monkeys for meaningful results. That’s why we chose to do cloning: with completely identical monkeys, we can use fewer of them.&#8221;
<h2>Making Mistakes</h2>
If the scientific community is going to agree that testing on these monkeys is ethical, there is some logic behind the idea of gene-editing and cloning the animals to be identical models for specific tests.
However, a key part of that will be ensuring we can effectively edit and clone the animals, and we might not be there yet. Dozens of surrogate mothers underwent embryo implantations as part of Chang&#8217;s team&#8217;s research, but of the 16 that became pregnant, only five monkeys were born.
We&#8217;re going to need to answer many tough questions along the path to a future in which CRISPR helps humanity <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/poll-two-thirds-americans-support-human-gene-editing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eradicate disease</a>, <a href="https://futurism.com/geneticists-have-used-crispr-gene-editing-to-create-crops-that-grow-more-food" target="_blank" rel="noopener">end hunger</a>, or even <a href="https://futurism.com/reproduction-mars-colonization" target="_blank" rel="noopener">colonize the universe</a> — and whether or not the failures preceding the creation of these five monkeys crossed the ethical line is one of them.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2194061-meet-the-man-who-made-crispr-monkey-clones-to-study-depression/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Meet the Man Who Made CRISPR Monkey Clones to Study Depression</a> [New Scientist]
More on the monkeys: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/cloned-monkeys-gene-edited-chinese" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chinese Scientists Cloned Gene-Edited Monkeys With Horrifying Results</a>

CRISPR could decrease the number of monkeys sacrificed.

Scientist defends controversial cloning of gene-edited monkeys

Seeing Double

Hung-Chun Chang, the scientist who created five monkey clones of a gene-edited animal, defends his research in an interview with New Scientist.

Scientist Defends Controversial Cloning of Gene-Edited Monkeys

"With completely identical monkeys, we can use fewer of them."

<h2>Cloned Again</h2>
Almost exactly one year ago, the world met <a href="https://futurism.com/first-cloned-monkeys-humans-next" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hua Hua and Zhong Zhong</a>, the first primates cloned through a technique that could theoretically produce an unlimited number of replicas.
Now, a team of Chinese scientists has used the same technique to produce five clones of another monkey, one genetically altered to have a disorder with an array of traumatic psychological side effects — and the research is a horrifying ethical minefield.
<h2>Off-Rhythm</h2>
The technique used to clone the monkeys is called somatic cell nuclear transfer, and it involves replacing the nucleus of a donor egg with one removed from the cell of another animal.
With Hua Hua and Zhong Zhong, scientists retrieved their donor nucleus from the cells of fetal macaques.
This time, though, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences used the nucleus of cells from a genetically altered monkey. Specifically, they used CRISPR-Cas9 to alter the animal&#8217;s BMAL1 gene, which helps manage certain circadian rhythms in some mammals, while it was still an embryo.
According to the researchers&#8217; <a href="https://academic.oup.com/nsr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/nsr/nwz002/5290357" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two</a> <a href="https://academic.oup.com/nsr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/nsr/nwz003/5290358" target="_blank" rel="noopener">papers</a>, both published in the journal National Science Review, the procedure worked.
The five newborn monkeys exhibited a &#8220;wide-range of circadian disorder phenotypes,&#8221; including reduced sleep, increased movement at night, schizophrenia-like behaviors, and signs of anxiety and depression — all of which are on display in a <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/190768.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disturbing video</a> released alongside the research.
<h2>Of Monkeys and Men</h2>
While the idea of purposely subjecting animals to the psychological stresses described above is troubling, the researchers believe the potential benefits to humanity are worth it.
&#8220;Disorder of circadian rhythm could lead to many human diseases, including sleep disorders, diabetic mellitus, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases,&#8221; researcher Hung-Chun Chang <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-01/scp-gdm012119.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said in a press release</a>. &#8220;Our BMAL1-knock out monkeys thus could be used to study the disease pathogenesis as well as therapeutic treatments.&#8221;
There&#8217;s also the possibility that cloning genetically altered animals could actually reduce the number needed for research.
&#8220;Without the interference of genetic background, a much smaller number of cloned monkeys carrying disease phenotypes may be sufficient for pre-clinical tests of the efficacy of therapeutics,&#8221; researcher Mu-ming Poo said in the press release.
<h2>Sleepless Nights</h2>
At the same time, the research raises a host of ethical issues.
For one thing, there&#8217;s the large number of unsuccessful attempts that preceded the births of these five monkeys to consider — 65 surrogate mothers underwent embryo implantations, resulting in 16 pregnancies but only five births.
Then there&#8217;s the lingering question of whether any insights gleaned from the research would even translate to humans — <a href="https://www.the-scientist.com/uncategorized/the-trouble-with-animal-models-46344" target="_blank" rel="noopener">many animals studies don&#8217;t</a>.
&#8220;If I were on an ethics review committee, I would be very hesitant to approve [this research] because of the incredible amount of harm to the animals,&#8221; bioethicist Carolyn Neuhaus <a href="https://gizmodo.com/chinas-latest-cloned-monkey-experiment-is-an-ethical-me-1831987348" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Gizmodo</a>. &#8220;I would expect the scientists who are proposing this research to have very good responses to very hard questions about their methods and the expected benefits of their research.&#8221;
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/chinese-scientists-have-cloned-a-genetically-altered-primate-for-the-first-time" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chinese Scientists Have Cloned a Genetically Altered Primate for the First Time</a> [Science Alert]
More on cloned monkeys: <a href="https://futurism.com/first-cloned-monkeys-humans-next" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scientists Just Cloned Monkeys. Humans Could Be Next.</a>

The monkeys exhibited anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia-like behaviors.

Chinese scientists cloned gene-edited monkeys with horrifying results

Hard to Watch

A team of Chinese scientists just unveiled five cloned monkeys produced from the cells of a monkey whose genes they edited with CRISPR-Cas9.

Chinese Scientists Cloned Gene-Edited Monkeys With Horrifying Results

The monkeys are clearly not well.

<h2>Throwback</h2>
The Presidio, a national park beneath the southern end of San Francisco&#8217;s Golden Gate Bridge, now has <a href="https://www.ancienttreearchive.org/archangel-ancient-tree-archive-to-plant-clones-of-worlds-largest-trees-at-national-site/">75 new saplings</a> of the state&#8217;s iconic and endangered coast redwood trees, all of which were cloned from ancient redwood DNA. And if they are allowed to grow uninterrupted, each one <a href="https://futurism.com/companies-bring-end-deforestation">could help sequester</a> as much as 250 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, <a href="https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/blogs/super-grove-redwood-tree-clones">according to Mother Nature Network</a>.
All of the trees in this new so-called &#8220;super grove&#8221; belong to an impressive genetic lineage. The ancient, gargantuan redwood trees that provided their DNA were harvested in the late 19th century but still exist as those giant, landmark stumps you see in historical photos.
<h2>Mini-Me</h2>
The 75 saplings, all of which were planted in the park last Friday, were cloned from DNA extracted from the stumps of five ancient redwood stumps, the oldest and largest of which lived for 3,000 years and grew to be 400 feet tall.
Mother Nature Network reports that it took two and a half years to get from DNA collection to the point where the saplings were developed enough to survive in the park.
<h2>Historical Precedent</h2>
The idea of cloning and replanting a redwood forest isn&#8217;t as far-fetched as it may seem — coast redwood trees can already do the exact same thing on their own.
Sometimes, the stumps of a redwood tree will contain <a href="https://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1767">growths called burls</a> which can grow into a brand-new sapling and hijack the stump&#8217;s network of roots. By growing 75 new redwood clones, this process is merely being accelerated.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/blogs/super-grove-redwood-tree-clones">Conservationists plant a &#8216;super grove&#8217; of redwood trees cloned from ancient stumps</a> [Mother Nature Network]
More on reforestation: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/droneseed-plant-trees-wildfire">SWARMS OF DRONES CAN NOW PLANT TREES IN AREAS DEVASTATED BY FIRES</a>

They're bringing back the iconic forest through scientific brute force.

Scientists planted clones of ancient super-tall redwoods

Stump Speech

Last Friday, 75 coast redwood saplings found their new home in San Francisco's Presidio national park. All of them are clones of ancient redwood stumps.

Scientists Planted Clones of Ancient Super-Tall Redwoods

The 75 saplings are all genetically identical to ancient redwood stumps.

If sci-fi writers of the past somehow visited us today, they might wonder: where are all the clones?
As recently as the year 2000, it seemed almost inevitable that rogue scientists would start human cloning any day. <a href="http://dolly.roslin.ed.ac.uk/facts/the-life-of-dolly/index.html">Dolly the sheep</a>, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell, was born in 1997. A council on bioethics called by then-President Bush, and an emergency report by the National Academies, both published reports deeming that the technology was unsafe and should be banned, even for research or therapy. Media reports covered every update breathlessly. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger got in on the action, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz-Abh8opLo">starring in a movie</a> about a man (with a self-driving car, of course) whose clone takes over his life.
Yes, over the past 15 years or so, genetics research has gotten so advanced that, from a scientific perspective, we&#8217;re actually pretty darn close to being able to create human clones.
But no need to freak out just yet. There are significant barriers to human cloning that remain, and they&#8217;re not only scientific ones.
For one thing: the technology that created Dolly the sheep in the 90s is simply inefficient, as <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610681/human-cloning-just-got-a-little-bit-closer-heres-why/">MIT Tech Review explains </a>— only one of 100 cloned embryos led to a live birth, and some of those that make it are born with fatal birth defects. Scientists have overcome some of these hurdles by figuring out how to un-block genes needed to develop a cell into a full-fledged embryo, which are usually not &#8220;turned on&#8221; in their original state.
These scientific advances have made it possible for companies to confidently charge customers to clone their beloved pets (granted, it&#8217;s still so expensive that it&#8217;s primarily the <a href="https://futurism.com/clone-dog-barbra-streisand/">purview of celebrities</a>, but it&#8217;s definitely a real thing that happens) and for Chinese scientists to <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/01/these-monkey-twins-are-first-primate-clones-made-method-developed-dolly">successfully clone monkeys</a>.
Doesn&#8217;t seem like much of a stretch that we could the clone humans, right? But given the science we have now, it would still require a significant number of failed human pregnancies, so many that it&#8217;s hard to imagine ethics committees allowing the research to happen. Stem cell biologist Yi Zhang, whose work solved the blocked gene problem, pointed out to Tech Review that the process of creating just two long-tailed macaque monkeys required 63 surrogate mothers and 417 eggs, all of which resulted in just six pregnancies.
Not to mention, many countries simply would not allow this process. <a href="https://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article/human-cloning-policies">According to the Center for Genetics and Society,</a> any form of cloning is flat-out banned in 46 countries, and reproductive cloning (cloning specifically to create full-grown humans) is banned in another 32, leaving open the option to clone human cells for therapeutic uses like growing organs. In the United States, <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/embryonic-and-fetal-research-laws.aspx#Table2">fifteen states prohibit</a> reproductive cloning, and <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/embryonic-and-fetal-research-laws.aspx#Table1">three prohibit</a> the use of public funds for cloning research.
That&#8217;s not to say that just because scientists are not supposed to do something, that they won&#8217;t. But human cloning research would require significant financial support and the infrastructure of sophisticated technology; it&#8217;s not something that could be done in someone&#8217;s basement lab. Therefore, unless some mad billionaire decided to attempt the process privately, anyone who wanted to carry out human cloning would have some form of review board to answer to.
Because China hasn&#8217;t formally banned cloning in any way, some critics feared that Chinese scientists might attempt a human clone after their success in monkeys. Yet those researchers, at least, stated they had <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/chinese-scientists-no-plan-clone-humans-monkey-a8180866.html">no plans to clone humans</a>, as &#8220;social ethics would by no means allow that practice.&#8221;
This last statement is telling: should they perform human cloning, scientists know very well that they would be shunned by the scientific and diplomatic community altogether.
That pressure alone may be enough to keep rogue scientists from trying anything, even in places where there are no legal limits on the practice. At least, for now.

The legal, social, and ethical impacts are still keeping the practice in check.

We're getting closer to cloning humans. Here's what's stopping us.

Sci-Fi Visions

The technology for successful human cloning is within our reach. But the legal, ethical, and social implications keep us from using it.

Ethical Implications of Human Cloning | Futurism

Sure, you can clone your pet, but don't expect to clone your sister anytime soon.

We’re Getting Closer to Cloning Humans. Here’s What’s Stopping Us.

On February 27, <a href="http://variety.com/2018/film/news/barbra-streisand-clone-dogs-samantha-1202711047/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a Variety cover story</a> broke the most newsworthy animal cloning story since Dolly the sheep. Before Samantha, Barbra Streisand&#8217;s well-loved Coton de Tuléar, passed away in 2017 at the age of 14, her owner had her cloned—not once, but twice. Cells from the dog&#8217;s mouth and stomach were used to create the two clones, which are called Miss Scarlett and Miss Violet.
<iframe width="500" height="375" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZH0IjyScp00?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
If you&#8217;re thinking about following Streisand&#8217;s example and are dead-set on <a href="https://futurism.com/videos/this-company-will-clone-your-deceased-pet-for-100000/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bringing Fido back to life</a>, here are a few things you should know.
<h2>It&#8217;s Not Cheap</h2>
Streisand didn&#8217;t reveal which company she entrusted with <a href="https://futurism.com/first-cloned-monkeys-humans-next/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cloning her pet</a>, but the options currently available are rather expensive. A South Korean lab called <a href="https://futurism.com/videos/this-company-will-clone-your-deceased-pet-for-100000/">Sooam Biotech</a> has reportedly carried out the procedure over 600 times, and charges $100,000 per attempt, while the Texas-based ViaGen Pets asks for a more reasonable $50,000 each time, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/28/science/barbra-streisand-clone-dogs.html?mtrref=undefined" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a report from the New York Times</a>.
<h2>It&#8217;s Not Fool-proof</h2>
That price tag is even more distressing when you learn that making a genetic copy of your pup is far from a guarantee. Sooam Biotech estimates that its cloning process works about a third of the time, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/09/30/418642018/disgraced-scientist-clones-dogs-and-critics-question-his-intent" target="_blank" rel="noopener">per NPR</a>. Other dogs are used as surrogates, and provide eggs, and their welfare has to be taken into account when we consider the <a href="https://futurism.com/experts-answer-should-allowed-create-own-clone/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ethics of cloning</a> – is it really fine to have a dog miscarry unnecessarily?
<h2>The Cloned Dog Might Not Act The Same</h2>
Our genes do not dictate who we are. Identical twins can sometimes <a href="http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask142">act, or even look, pretty different</a>. The same is true for cloned dogs. Pet cloning company My Friend Again writes on <a href="http://www.myfriendagain.com/faq/faq.htm">the FAQ on its web site</a>: &#8220;If the new clone grows up in the same environment as the original dog than the personality will be the same or closely similar.&#8221; Closely similar. 
<h2>Don&#8217;t Leave it Too Late</h2>
Still thinking of cloning your dog? It&#8217;s best to plan ahead.
If your dog is still alive, you can take it to the vet to get the biopsy sample required for cloning – an eight-millimeter piece of skin from its abdomen, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-woosuk-hwangs-sooam-biotech-mastered-cloning-2015-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to Business Insider</a>. If it&#8217;s already passed away, you&#8217;re not completely out of luck, but you&#8217;ll need to wrap its body in wet towels and keep it in the refrigerator until you can take it to a vet and get those samples. Not exactly letting Fido rest in peace.
<h2>Maybe Consider Adoption</h2>
By bringing another animal into the world, you might be leaving one more to die. Every year, <a href="https://www.aspca.org/animal-homelessness/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">around 1.5 million shelter animals are euthanized</a> in the U.S. alone because nobody wants them. Also, it&#8217;s way cheaper to adopt from a shelter, or even from a breeder, than to clone the family canine.

Wanna clone your dog like Barbara Streisand? Here are four things you need to know

Want to follow Barbra's Streisand's example and clone your old pet before it's too late?There are probably a few things to know first.

Wanna Clone Your Dog Like Barbara Streisand? Here Are Four Things You Need to Know

A cloned pupper might make you feel that  'Happy Days Are Here Again.' Or maybe not.

Wanna Clone Your Dog Like Barbra Streisand? Here Are Four Things You Need to Know.

<h2>To Clone or Not to Clone</h2>
Earlier this month, Chinese scientists <a href="https://futurism.com/first-cloned-monkeys-humans-next/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cloned two female macaques</a>. Although it wasn&#8217;t the first time primates had been cloned successfully, it was the first time they&#8217;d been cloned using somatic cell nuclear transfer, the same technique used to <a href="https://futurism.com/the-age-of-cloning-all-of-dolly-the-sheeps-clones-are-healthy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">clone Dolly the sheep</a> in 1996.
For somatic cell nuclear transfer, scientists implant the nucleus from a cell of the animal being cloned into a donor egg. That egg is then exposed to an electric current, which causes it to develop into an embryo that can eventually be carried by a surrogate.
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In prior experiments involving primates, this process failed during the blastocyst stage of embryonic development. However, by introducing a compound called trichostatin A and <a href="https://futurism.com/programmable-rna-vaccines-against-ebola-influenza-and-other-parasites-worked-when-tested-in-mice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">messenger RNA</a> to the mix, the Chinese researchers were able to avoid the pitfalls of previous attempts.
This was a major breakthrough because, unlike other cloning techniques, which can result in a maximum of four clones, somatic cell nuclear transfer can produce an unlimited number, which could be a huge boon for medical research.
<h2>The Evolution of Cloning</h2>
While the scientists responsible for the cloned macaques maintain that they have no plans to pursue human cloning, the fact remains that the <a href="https://futurism.com/new-study-concludes-that-we-need-a-strict-ban-on-human-cloning-for-any-purposes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scientific obstacles</a> preventing such a project are being dismantled. Soon, the only potential hurdles will be ethical ones centered on the idea of whether the benefits of human cloning outweigh its moral ramifications.
Since 2002, the <a href="https://www.aaas.org/page/american-association-advancement-science-statement-human-cloning" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Association for the Advancement of Science&#8217;s (AAAS) statement</a> on human cloning has been the definitive guide for scientists in the U.S. regarding the ethics of human cloning. As <a href="https://www.aaas.org/person/joanne-padr-n-carney" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joanne Carney</a>, program director of the AAAS&#8217;s Office of Government Relations told Futurism, the association has no plans to revise its statement or change its stance on reproductive cloning in humans in light of recent developments.
Today, scientists seem to accept the AAAS&#8217;s position. However, according to <a href="https://www.scu.edu/ethics/about-the-center/people/staff/margaret-r-mclean/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Margaret R. McLean</a>, director of bioethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, that might just be because they don&#8217;t yet have the commercial incentive to go against it. If such an incentive were to arise, such as the ability to clone human bodies solely for the purpose of harvesting healthy organs, scientists may start to reconsider the AAAS&#8217;s ban on human cloning.
&#8220;The prospect of creating &#8216;shell bodies&#8217; to harvest organs would be very promising and might vastly improve human health and welfare,&#8221; bioethicist <a href="http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/psjournal/features/jacob-appel%E2%80%9909-doctor-lawyer-writer-teacher-tour-guide">Jacob Appel</a> told Futurism. &#8220;The caveat here is that these clones would have to be merely shell bodies. It would be highly unethical to harvest such organs from clones that were actually sentient human beings.&#8221;
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Scientists aren&#8217;t the only ones who need to consider the potential ethical ramifications of human cloning. Now that the possibility is just on the horizon, the general public in the U.S. needs to start thinking about those ramifications, too.
&#8220;I continue to believe in — and advocate for — more public conversation about emerging biotechnologies including cloning technology, gene editing, and AI,&#8221; said McLean. &#8220;A good deal of cutting-edge research in biotech takes place overseas or in the private sector, challenging our ability to have informed conversations in the public square.&#8221;
&#8220;We need increased transparency regarding the development of and goals for new biotechnologies, which can come from more robust federal funding of basic and applied research,&#8221; she added.
Given the renewed interest in the subject, Futurism decided to ask the above experts to share their thoughts on whether human cloning should be allowed in the future and what sort of problems might arise from human cloning projects. Here&#8217;s what they had to say.
<hr />
Margaret R. McLean, director of bioethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics
I think that we should be careful not to read too much into the announcement from China. While undeniably cute, the cloned macaques, Hua Hua and Zhong Zhong, are not necessarily forerunners of human cloning. Importantly, although the technique used to create Dolly the sheep can be used to clone primates, the building blocks are not the same.
The bouncy macaques originated from fetal cell nuclei. Dolly originated from adult cell DNA, replicating an already-existing genome. So, although Dolly was the clone of an adult sheep, cloning an adult monkey failed. If attempts at cloning different species have taught us anything, it&#8217;s that the process is immensely complicated and works &#8220;easily&#8221; in some species and not so easily in others. It is a big scientific step from primates to humans.
Still, this announcement has rekindled the debate about human cloning – whether it should be pursued and for what purpose. Certainly, safety considerations and our obligation to not cause undue harm should give us pause. After all, Hua Hua and Zhong Zhong were the only live births to result from the cloning of 79 embryos. But, even if proven &#8220;safe enough,&#8221; what would be a defensible reason for applying cloning technology to humans, especially since the advent of gene editing?
The scientists themselves deny any interest in human cloning. Unfortunately, our automatic reflex to think about human applications has taken our attention away from the ethics of primate cloning itself. The researchers&#8217; goal is to create genetically identical monkeys to be used in the study of human disease, especially diseases of the brain. We need to ask ourselves if the potential to understand and cure human disease justifies the deliberate creation of primate clones for research.
Joanne Carney, program director of the American Association for the Advancement of Science&#8217;s (AAAS) Office of Government Relations
The AAAS supports research cloning and the use of somatic cell nuclear transfer to enhance the ability to produce cloned cells in order to test possible therapies on diseases. People immediately think we&#8217;re going to create another human. That&#8217;s cloning for reproductive purposes. We object to the use of somatic cell nuclear transfer for reproductive cloning purposes, to create a human.
First and foremost, the prospect of using these techniques to clone a human being raises very strong ethical, moral, and social concerns. Besides ethics, though, one of the other barriers [to cloning humans] is more practical: Cloning is very difficult. It is not a simple process, and there&#8217;s a lot we don&#8217;t understand about it.
The macaque cloning is an important advance because it&#8217;s going to provide certain insights, but the process itself is still very difficult. If you look at the number of times those scientists had to implant an embryo in order to succeed in getting to the birth of these two primates, you&#8217;ll see that it&#8217;s not very simple, and we still don&#8217;t know what types of mutations we may find in those animals.
From a research perspective, we do believe that reproductive cloning should continue to be pursued. It could provide insights into the nature of the body and diseases, as well as pathways to possible treatments for those diseases. While this particular breakthrough involves a primate and not a human, we do believe that research cloning should always follow strict ethical guidelines, even if it doesn&#8217;t involve human cells.
Jacob Appel, bioethicist
I think we are still very much in the &#8220;<a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-m-appel/should-we-really-fear-rep_b_183308.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">yellow light</a>&#8221; phase with regard to human cloning. At a minimum, we&#8217;d want to perfect cloning techniques on multiple closely related species first and be certain that clones don&#8217;t face considerable health risks or consequences (as some other cloned species have). We will want to see how the recently cloned Chinese macaques turn out.
The key issue for me is safety. If human clones have the same life expectancy and are as healthy as non-cloned humans, then I see no other insurmountable objections. That, of course, is a major &#8220;if.&#8221;
Beyond the health risks, the most significant concern is that some segments of society might choose to mistreat the clones or treat them as second-class citizens.
Individuals might feel (mistakenly) entitled to receive certain benefits from their own clones, such as kidney or bone marrow transplants. Of course, this makes no more sense than the idea that I have a right to my own child&#8217;s kidney just because I created him. (<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/954408.stm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Savior siblings</a> may be able to donate to their brothers and sisters, but we would want to use identical standards of interest and assent that we use elsewhere in medicine.)
Laws and regulations will need to be drawn in advance to address specific issues that arise from cloning and to ensure that clones are guaranteed the same rights as non-clones and are not abused. Bigotry against clones should be no more acceptable than racism or antisemitism.
I can say with confidence that nothing I&#8217;ve witnessed in the last decade has persuaded me that cloning humans will be less safe or less ethical [than cloning other species]. However, the jury is still out.

The technological barriers to human cloning are crumbling.

Experts answer: Should you be allowed to create your own clone?

Hard Science

Researchers have overcome another of the technological barriers to human cloning, raising questions about the ethics of doing so in the future.

Experts Answer: Should You Be Allowed to Create Your Own Clone?

Monkeys today. Humans tomorrow?

<h2>A World&#8217;s First</h2>
Since the birth of <a href="https://futurism.com/the-age-of-cloning-all-of-dolly-the-sheeps-clones-are-healthy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dolly the sheep</a> in 1996, scientists across the globe have used the same technique to clone nearly two dozen other animal species, including cats, dogs, rats, and cattle. Primates, however, had proven resistant to the process — until now.
In a new study <a href="http://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(18)30057-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published in Cell</a>, a team of Chinese researchers led by Qiang Sun at the <a href="http://www.ion.ac.cn/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Neuroscience</a> in Shanghai reveal that they&#8217;ve found a way to tweak the Dolly cloning technique to make it work in primates. Their efforts have resulted in the birth of two cloned female macaques: Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua.
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The technique used to clone Dolly, somatic cell nuclear transfer, involves replacing the nucleus in a donor egg with a nucleus taken from a cell from another animal. After scientists use an electric current to make the egg believe it has been fertilized, it will start to develop into an embryo that can then be implanted into a surrogate for gestation. The animal that results from the pregnancy will be a genetic copy of whatever animal donated the nucleus.
In primates, the process has traditionally failed at the blastocyst stage of embryonic development. To get past this hurdle, Sun&#8217;s team added two new elements to the usual collection of nutrients and growth factors that are typically introduced to embryos prior to surrogate implantation. Those new elements, a compound called trichostatin A and messenger RNA, helped direct the DNA to grow properly by prodding hundreds of genes necessary for successful embryonic development into action.
The team then tested their technique using cells from both adult and fetal macaques. Although attempts using cells from adult macaques did produce two live animals, neither survived long after birth, and one&#8217;s body didn&#8217;t develop properly, so the researchers decided to try using cells from fetal macaques. They implanted 79 of those embryos into 21 surrogates. Six of the surrogates became pregnant, and Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua were the only two successful live births.
True, those numbers don&#8217;t sound too impressive, but it&#8217;s remarkable progress.
<h2>The Future of Research</h2>
While the Chinese team isn&#8217;t the first to clone a primate, they are the first to do so using a modified version of the Dolly method. This has long been a goal of researchers because it offers a big advantage over the previous method, which involved splitting an embryo after fertilization. While that technique could only produce a maximum of four cloned animals, the Dolly method could theoretically lead to an unlimited number of clones.
The ability to create sets of genetically identical macaques will likely be extremely valuable for medical research.
Macaques are closer to humans genetically than mice, so insights gleaned from testing on them is far more likely to translate to humans. Using cloned animals instead of ones that are simply related also adds a level of precision to the testing by creating a true &#8220;control.&#8221;
Entire groups of macaques with genes linked to Alzheimer&#8217;s, Parkinson&#8217;s disease, or cancer could be developed in the lab, and doctors could test different treatments on the animals to get an accurate idea of how they&#8217;d respond. They could also make minor tweaks to the genes of one animal to see how it developed differently from the rest of the population.
Some may be concerned that the successful cloning of macaques puts us one step closer to <a href="https://futurism.com/how-close-are-we-to-successfully-cloning-the-first-human/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cloning humans</a>. However, study co-author Mu-Ming Poo <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/01/monkey-clones-dolly-sheep-china-medicine-science/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told </a><a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/01/monkey-clones-dolly-sheep-china-medicine-science/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Geographic</a> that the team has no intention of applying their method to humans. They don&#8217;t really have any incentive to do so, either, according to Peter Andrews, a professor in the University of Sheffield&#8217;s department of biomedical science.
“It could be a step towards human cloning, but why would you do it?” Andrews <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23731623-600-scientists-have-cloned-monkeys-and-it-could-help-treat-cancer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told New Scientist</a>. “In terms of human biology, it’s illegal to clone a human in Britain and many other countries, and I don’t think anyone would rationally want to do it.”
Given the low rate of success for the Chinese team&#8217;s technique, we aren&#8217;t yet at the point when researchers can easily create armies of cloned primates in the lab. However, if the group is able to perfect the procedure, the names Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua could become as synonymous with cloning achievements in the future as Dolly is right now.
But here&#8217;s the thing to remember: we have broken the technical barrier to cloning humans, and there&#8217;s no going back. While national and international regulations prevent human cloning, not everyone abides by the law. Something that we must realize is that scientific advancements aren’t always determined by what we should do but simply what we can do. We can ban whatever science we want, but we can’t stop it.
Perhaps it’s time to ask ourselves whether it might be time to consider regulation instead of prohibition?

It's time to ask ourselves tough questions.

Scientists just cloned monkeys. Humans could be next.

A team of Chinese researchers successful produce two cloned monkeys using a modified version of the technique used to clone Dolly.

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