I love when a Star Wars title is actually relevant. Anyway, we know a
dog was successfully cloned in South Korea. Now this makes two recent breakthroughs for South Korea. And furthers the overall dominance of South Korea in the field. They were also the first to exract stem cells from a cloned human embryo.
South Korea is marching science into the future while we sit and wonder if curing cancer and a multitude of other diseases is the right thing to do. Anyway, I did not know that much about the process. I did some searching today. What I didn't know actually shocked and amazed me. For anyone else that is as ignorant as me wants to find out more, I have some easy reading links below.
The first thing that jumped out and bit me was that clones are made from unfertilized eggs. All this whining wasn't even about the possibility that a fertilized egg is life. It is about that unfertilized egg having the potential for life. At this rate, male masturbation will be a million counts of murder. Off color joke, my apologies to those offended.
The second thing was that the cell division process is jump started by a jolt of electricity. Now I have never believed in life from goo, but that makes me start to wonder a bit. But in this is still a case when they are starting with complex cells. So I still cling to my previous beliefs. But the process is impressive no matter how you look at it.
The third thing I found interesting was the amount of perfect cloning takes place in nature. Frogs, plants, and other species already practice cloning.
Anyway, the how stuff works article on it is a good place to start for someone with my elementary level of biology knowledge. The links at the end of the article are worth checking out too.
The Human Genome Project also has some entry-level introductions to the topic. And extra links.
Now this is the part to remember:
THE ENTIRE PROCESS CAN BE DONE WITHOUT THE DESTRUCTION OF LIFE. Unless, an unfertilized egg is life. If so, if feel sorry for all the women who aren't pregnant and commit murder once a month by not keeping that little unfertilized life inside you.
Of course, there are ethical concerns of possible uses for clones. I particularly worry about a Republican administration with an large supply of willing, genitically superior troops. It seems only reason we are not at war with Iran right now is because they can't get war supporters to fight wars. For more information, watch all six Star Wars films in sequence. Repeat as needed.