Cloning Phenomenon

The New York Times has an article discussing the new efforts in cloning. Scientists at Harvard and the University of California have been working vigorously to develop embryonic stem cells from adult cells of patients suffering from diseases. Right now, many researchers are running into a slight problem; none of the eggs seem to be working. Scientists collected over 2,000 eggs from healthy women, yet none of the tests were successful. Many animal eggs have been cloned, yet no humans have been cloned yet.

The idea of cloning was introduced into the world during 1962, when a biologist from Oxford University by the name of John Gurdon claimed to have cloned frogs from adult cells. He said to have used the nucleus of a fully differentiated adult intestinal cell to clone South African frogs. Gurdon’s results excited the scientific community, but some scientists remained skeptical and began finding flaws in his work.