art 1: Primary Post (Read the information and watch the video in Part 1 and answer the questions in Part 2)
Watch this video first and then write up your discussion
Hybridizing with extinct species: George Church at TEDxDeExtinctionLinks to an external site.
Hybridizing with extinct species: George Church at TEDxDeExtinction
Scenario: Cloning
Cloning can have multiple meanings and conjures up images of Sci-Fi movies where humans are cloned relatively quickly in the laboratory and appear as adults with the same abilities, memories, etc. as the person whose cell(s) were used to provide the genetic information. Of course, in reality, clones would start as a single cell and would have to go through the same stages of embryonic development and growth to adulthood that you did.
Useful Links:
Cloning fact sheet from ORNL
https://web.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/map.shtmlLinks to an external site.
https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/5-reasons-to-bring-back-extinct-animals-and-5-reasons-not-toLinks to an external site.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-big-question-could-cloning-be-the-answer-to-saving-endangered-species-from-extinction-1543657.html (Links to an external site.)
Part 2: Your Discussion – Secondary Post
Discuss and explore the scientific, moral, and ethical aspects of whole animal cloning. You will take on the role of consultants who has been hired to “sell” the idea of a park called ‘Preservation Land’ to rich investors. At this park, endangered and extinct animals will be cloned and put on display and used to restock wild populations.
1. General Introduction: Start off the meeting with the investors by explaining the steps involved with using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) for whole animal cloning. You may want to use Dolly the sheep as a successful example.
2. Can cloning help to save endangered species?: At the end of your introductory presentation, one of investors asks whether this has been done yet with endangered animals and if there are any potential drawbacks to using this process for preserving or restocking endangered animals. Below, relate what you would tell the investors about successful attempts to clone endangered animals, as well as the pros and cons of the use of cloning to help reverse species loss.
3. Cloning of extinct animals: One of the potential investors says that she had heard that wooly mammoths could be brought back from extinction. Below, document the basic steps it takes to theoretically clone an extinct animal that you would make the potential investors aware of. Also, note the problems that have emerged with the cloning of endangered and extinct animals, especially when forced to use surrogate mothers of a different species.
4. Human cloning: After your presentation, one very interested investor takes you aside and asks if this could be done with humans. He has a terminally ill child and wants to clone this child. Note the ethical issues associated with cloning humans that you would inform the potential investor about and how you would explain to the investor the similarities and differences that would exist between the clone and the child he has now. Do these cloned animals cause changes to humans if we happened to eat them, like cloning cows?
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