Do you remember Dolly the Sheep?

She was the first mammal cloned "from an adult somatic cell, using the process of nuclear transfer."

Dolly was cloned from a mammary gland and was named after Dolly Parton … for obvious reasons.

Since then, many other large mammals were cloned, including pigs and horses. 

 

TIME via Youtube

It was just announced that Chinese scientists have cloned two long-trailed macaques using the same technique that produced Dolly. 

Since humans are primates as well, this is an exciting, and mildly terrifying, step towards cloning humans. 

Pragmatically, this bolsters medical research by making it possible to study diseases on uniform subjects, but it also raises tough questions on human cloning. 

As A.I. and cloning advance, some tough bio-ethic issues will take front stage.  It is time to start thinking about what defines a person (or even a living creature) and what rights they have.

Innovation stops for no one … and Nature finds a way.

Onwards!