Nic Tamzek

Well, it looks like, as usual, the scientists were right and the Raelians can't back up their claim.

My guess: we are hearing the retractions and wishy-washiness now, because the Raelians already did their own test and realized that the infertile couple that produced the baby wasn't quite as infertile as they thought. But evidently being a yahoo with a wild claim is all it takes for international media attention.

Silver lining: James Randi just got interviewed on NPR (5:28 p.m. Friday) following a story on the skepticism of scientists.

Nick

sakrilege

Now they claim a second 'cloned baby' has been born with 3 more on the way.


Is there any reason that all the clones I'm familiar with are female or is it just coincidence?

WWSD

The Bene Gesserit need more witches.

Undercurrent

The first baby is supposedly a clone of her mother, so it seems that the modus operandi of these people is to grow the clone in the womb of the person she's cloned from (for some reason that's not obvious to me... possibly because it's easier to get a single person to both agree to be cloned and to agree to carry a clone, than trying to get two different people to agree.)

Anyway, if that's the case, we'd expect all females.

Jobar

Undercurrent:
Possibly because it's easier to get a single person to both agree to be cloned and to agree to carry a clone, than trying to get two different people to agree.

I hadn't thought of that, and it could be the reason.

However, AFAIK there are no biological reasons why a male cannot be cloned. It would seem that any somatic cell with a full complement of DNA could be made to produce a clone.

Is anyone aware of some technical problem in producing a clone of a male?

pz

There's a problem of principle: cloning a male is an exercise in futility. You can generate a line of females produced parthenogenetically with no need to use males at any point, but a cloned male is going to need a female to reproduce.

Cloning makes males useless. Well, more useless than before, at any rate.

Jobar

Although I certainly don't put it past the Raelians to be attempting a huge hoax, I will give them some time- months- before I openly accuse them of so doing. The legal issues, and the obviously justified reticence of the people involved, and the enormous pressures which would be brought to bear on any independent medical personnel to reveal the identity and whereabouts of the child- think how much the National Inquirer would offer for the story!- makes me prone to give their claim some credence, at least until the publicity storm has died down some.

After all, if you can do it to a sheep, you can do it to a human.

terrene

PZ: I don't know about that theory. If they can transfer DNA with a little careful syringe work, surely they could take DNA out of a female egg, too. Then it's just a matter of putting the male's DNA in place and inducing cell division. Right?

-john

Nic Tamzek

Current doubts aside, if we play out the hypothetical if the Raelians wildest dreams come true:

1) Many clones are born of each Raelian. A few hundred thousand copies of Rael and his "bishops" etc. exist in their own clone-towns, like certain X-files episodes.

2) A nasty strain of the flu comes along and finds that it can propagate particularly quickly if it specializes on the particularly non-diverse gene pool of Raelian clones.

3) Massive mortality of Raelians.

4) Return to step 1 and repeat process.

Us sexual reproducers on the other hand continue on having the same grand old time as before...

Darwin wins again...

RufusAtticus

1. We have produced a clone.
2. Genetic testing to confirm this will be done later.

Is it me or should 2 come before 1?