Current Events 8

Dolly the Sheep is Alive, Alive, Alive, Alive
Author: Kyle VanHemert
Date Written: 1/12/10
Link: http://gizmodo.com/5703652/dolly-the-sheep-is-alive-alive-alive-alive


In 1996, an important step in the science of cloning was made. For the first time, a clone was made from a mammal adult cell. The cloned sheep was named Dolly. Unfortunately, the sheep suffered of arthritis and its lungs were failing. It had to be put down at an age of six in the year 2002. 
But then in in the year 2006, Professor Keith Campbell of Nottingham University defrosted some of the sheep's tissue and made not only one, but four new clones of it. Not many people knew about these new clones and those that knew about it kept relatively quiet. That was only until recently when Professor Campbell mentioned these clones on a lecture about cloning in the European Parliament. 
These new clones are much more successful than the original Dolly. Not only did each one come from a group of five while the orginal came from a group of 277. Also, they are all perfectly healthy at four while Dolly died at the age of six.
I think that it is very interesting that not only can we clone Dolly again but that we can also more successful at it. I wonder how long the new sheep will survive but this is a success already and another step towards perfection in cloning.