Science Archives - Page 13 of 15

Are We Ready for Human Cloning?

by HOMEDNA on 02/04/2009

Most of us remember when,in 1997, Scottish scientists proclaimed they had successfully cloned a sheep and named her Dolly. The ethical repercussions were alarming and a heated international discuss began.

Long before this watershed event, scientists had been interested in cloning and successfully cloned various things. In most cases they cloned only the DNA of an organism, but not the organism itself. Before Dolly was born, scientists were able to successful clone embryos, but could not bring those embryos to term.

Inevitably, this field has extended beyond scientific research and stepped into a new arena: cloning for commercial purposes. Pet owners can pay approximately $150,000 to clone their favorite dog, to cite just one example. The south Florida couple who paid this amount were very excited, and when asked why they would choose to clone their pet, their reasoning was: “He was a human dog.”

This begs the question, are humans next? If nostalgia and sentimentality spurs pet owners to spend this kind of money on a deceased dog, why not a child who died “too soon?”

Are we ready?

What if Darwin isn’t all there is?

by HOMEDNA on 01/22/2009

We’ve all heard of On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. Written almost 150 years ago, it is considered to be one the gold-standard written works about evolution. One of its premises is that traits are developed and passed down based on environment and experiences, but those traits only evolve over multiple generations.

What some people may not know about are other theories proposed by Darwin’s contemporaries. One of these was developed by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. This theory, called Lamarckism, states that evolution could be directly impacted by an organism’s parent’s experiences. His theory specifically referred to giraffes’ long necks.

While this example may not be the best representation of this theory, the theory itself is being reconsidered after numerous findings by biologists around the world. A 2009 article in Newsweek suggests that a parent’s environment and experiences may in fact directly impact the traits inherited by a child.

The article discusses a species of water flea that gains a spiny helmet if its mother had an experience with predators before conceiving. If she had no trouble with predators, her offspring would not have these spiny helmets. The DNA of both types of water flea are otherwise the same. According to Darwin, this type of trait would have taken numerous generations to develop.

DNA, genetics, and inheritance are intriguing topics. However this research turns out, there is one thing that remains true. The DNA that determines relationships is not directly impacted by these types of findings. In other words, when it comes to getting results via paternity test, you cannot change the markers that indicate relationship simply by eating more greens or even by doing hard drugs.

Adoption at the San Francisco Zoo

by HOMEDNA on 12/15/2008

A female gorilla from the San Francisco Zoo showed us that adoption is not exclusive to the human race.

According to KCBS.com, shortly after giving birth, the mother gorilla named Monifa left the nest and did not attempt to care for her newborn baby boy. The zookeepers tried several times to get Monifa to connect with the baby but were unsuccessful. Each time, the new mother would move far away from the baby and eventually built a new nest.

Knowing the baby needed a mother, the zookeepers united the baby boy with an older mother named Bawang. Although the workers still have to feed the baby, Bawang has taken on the other responsibilities of amother and the baby is doing well.

If you would like to see photos of the baby gorilla, the San Francisco zoo has posted more pics on Flickr. CLICK HERE to see them.

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