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What is Cloning? The Clone Age began with the momentous news of the birth of Dolly the sheep in 1996. Dolly was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell. However, until Dolly's birth, most scientists doubted anything like this was possible in mammals. It was thought that all adult cells had taken on specialist roles which could never be altered. One sheep had proven that idea to be wrong. DNA from a mammary gland cell of a 6-year-old ewe had been used to create a whole new individual, Dolly.

A clone is an exact physical copy of one "parent," created using sophisticated scientific techniques. If you had a clone, it would be an exact physical copy of you, from your hair color to any inherited disease. Scientists have not cloned humans—yet. All living things are made of cells. Each cell contains a nucleus, a kind of personal treasure chest. Inside this treasure chest are "necklaces" of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), with genes—millions of bits of biological information—strung in a certain order along the strands of DNA. The exact arrangement of genes determines how someone looks and grows. The arrangement is unique to each person. DNA is what makes you—you. All people and most animals inherit DNA from each of two parents. A cloned creature, however, receives DNA from only one parent. But scientists are continuing research on cloning animals. Their motives, most people would agree, are good: new medicines, improved food production, and a future for endangered species. Some people disagree, however, about whether cloning itself is good—for any reason. Cloning is an art, not a science The methods used to clone an adult mammal are variations on a process called nuclear transfer. The whole operation is extremely delicate so it could be going wrong for a variety of reasons. One possibility is that the early embryo gets knocked and bumped about during handling in the laboratory.