Cloning
In 1997 scientists in Scotland, led by Dr. Ian Wilmut of the Roslin Institute, cloned the first mammal, a sheep named Dolly. Since then mice, goats, mules, rats, monkeys, cows and pigs have been successfully cloned around the world. This has made human cloning a real possibility. Cloning is the process of making a identical organism through nonsexual means. It has been used for many years to produce plants and even growing plant from a cutting is a type of cloning.
The main reason to clone plants or animals is to mass produce organisms with desired qualities, such as a prize-winning orchid or a genetically engineered animal. Sheep have been engineered to produce human insulin. Other reasons for cloning might include replacing lost or deceased family pets and repopulating endangered or even extinct species. The new cloning technologies have sparked many ethical debates among scientists, politicians and the general public. Several governments have considered and enacted legislation to slow down, limit or ban cloning experiments outright. It is clear that cloning will be a part of our lives in the future, but the course of this technology has yet to be determined.
Human Reproduction is when the sperm fertilises the egg cell. The chances of a boy or girl are not 50%.Recently, a new technology has been developed which helps people who are not able to have children as well as others. This is called in-vitro fertilisation or IVF. This process involves Petri dishes, like with artificial embryo twinning. The egg and sperm are put in one of the dishes. The egg is fertilised and then put back into the mother. Since this is an unreliable method many eggs are fertilised at one time.
Natural Embryo Twinning
Normally twins occur just after fertilization of an egg cell by a sperm cell. In rare cases the fertilized egg tries to divide into a two-celled embryo, the two cells separate. Each cell continues dividing on its own developing into a separate individual within the...
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