【推荐1】What is cloning?

The term cloning describes a number of different processes that can be used to produce genetically identical copies of a biological entity (存在体). The copied material is referred to as a clone.

How are genes cloned?

Researchers routinely use cloning techniques to make copies of genes that they wish to study. The procedure consists of inserting a gene from one organism, often referred to as “foreign DNA,” into the genetic material of a carrier called a vector (带菌者). Examples of vectors include bacteria, yeast cells or viruses. After the gene is inserted, the vector is placed in laboratory conditions that prompt it to multiply, resulting in the gene being copied many times over.

What animals have been cloned?

Over the last 50 years, scientists have conducted cloning experiments in a wide range of animals using a variety of techniques. In 1979, researchers produced the first genetically identical mice by splitting mouse embryos in the test tube and then implanting the resulting embryos into the wombs of adult female mice. It was not until 1996, however, that researchers succeeded in cloning the first mammal from a mature cell taken from an adult animal. After 276 attempts, Scottish researchers finally produced Dolly, the lamb from the udder cell of a 6-year-old sheep. Besides, other mammals that have been cloned include: cat, deer, dog, horse, mule, ox, rabbit and rat.

Have humans been cloned?

Despite several highly publicized claims, human cloning still appears to be fiction. There currently is no solid scientific evidence that anyone has cloned human embryos.

In 1998, scientists in South Korea claimed to have successfully cloned a human embryo, but said the experiment was interrupted very early when the clone was just a group of four cells.

In 2004, a group led by Woo-Suk Hwang of Seoul National University in South Korea published a paper in the journal Science in which it claimed to have created a cloned human embryo in a test tube. However, an independent scientific committee later found no proof to support the claim and, in January 2006, Science announced that Hwang’s paper had been retracted (撤销).

Why is human cloning difficult?

From a technical perspective, cloning humans and other primates (灵长类动物)is more difficult than in other mammals. One reason is that two proteins essential to cell division are located very close to the chromosomes(染色体)in primate eggs. Consequently, removal of the egg’s nucleus to make room for the donor nucleus also removes the proteins, interfering with cell division. In other mammals, such as cats, rabbits and mice, the two proteins are spread throughout the egg. So, removal of the egg’s nucleus does not result in loss of proteins. In addition, some dyes and the ultraviolet light used to remove the egg’s nucleus can damage the primate cell and prevent it from growing.

What are some of the ethical issues related to cloning?

Cloning would present the potential of creating a human that is genetically identical to another person who has previously existed or who still exists. This may conflict with long-standing religious and societal values about human dignity, possibly violating principles of individual freedom, identity and autonomy (自主权).

【推荐2】Amazon recently announced its latest launch, a robot called Astro. Small in size, but with impressive technology, Astro is seemingly similar to Amazon’s popular virtual assistant. With all the same capabilities as Alexa, many critics are asking why there’s a need for Astro.

Answering this question, Amazon’s Vice-President of Products, Charlie Tritschler, highlights some unique features of Astro that make it a different kind of robot. Astro can move on its own and follow people, offering consumers a far broader range of options. Besides, it can monitor home security. Astro uses Artificial Intelligence to learn more about household members by interacting with users. Users can also register themselves and others into its recognition system. When they leave home, they can make an away mode, which means “Sentry (哨兵) Mode”, or “Patrol Mode” start working. If someone who is not recognized enters the house, Astro will follow and record them. Astro’s mobility seems to be the key feature in its technological enhancement, but what appeals to people most is its “unique persona”. Its big, circular, blinking “eyes” displayed on its screen-like head making it look rather cute are a big reason for this.

Years of research show that humans often experience positive emotional connections with robots. According to MIT’s technology review of Astro, it may not fall far from this observation. People have come to love robotic pets, though they are fully aware that the pets are lifeless. Robots at home can play a useful role in helping elderly patients fight loneliness or young children face social anxiety.

Amazon is offering people interested in Astro the chance to sign up for Day 1 Editions, a program giving invitations to Astro as soon as it goes on the market later this year. Tritschler is encouraging people to personalize the robot when it becomes available, and he is confident that users will come up with more ideas and features they will want to see in the robot in the near future to make it even better.

【推荐1】A 70-year-old grandfather has successfully rowed a boat unassisted across the entire Atlantic Ocean-and he didn't do it for himself. Frank Rothwell took the challenge in memory of his brother-in-law Roger, who died of Alzheimer's disease (阿尔茨海默病) during Frank's crossing.

Requiring 18 months of hard training, the entire trip took eight challenging weeks for Rothwell to travel from La Gomera in the Canary Islands on December 12 to the finish line 3000 miles away in Antigua on February 6. “I like a challenge!” explains Frank on his fundraising site. “In 2017, I spent five weeks on a deserted island for the Channel 4 program, The Island with Bear Grylls. Before that, I was only the 10th person ever to circumnavigate North and South America.”

In a statement, Hilary Evans, chief executive of Alzheimer's Research UK, said, “We're honored to have such amazing support from Frank. His courage and determination helped him to complete his epic challenge and raise £1 million for dementia(痴呆）research.”

“This incredible amount will be a huge benefit to the groundbreaking research we carry out here at Alzheimer's Research UK, as we continue our mission to bring about life-changing treatments for people affected by dementia,”added Evans.

Crossing the finish line was an emotional moment for Rothwell. He said, “I am on cloud nine! I set out in December wishing to raise £1 million for Alzheimer's Research UK but I never thought I'd actually achieve it. At times, the challenge was incredibly tough, with rough seas, huge waves, and missing my wife, Judith. But as exhausting as it was, it was all totally worth it.”

He also said, “Having received hundreds of messages from people who, like me, have witnessed the heartbreak of dementia, I am proud to have raised such an incredible amount in honor of Roger and everyone else who has experienced the destruction it causes.”

【推荐3】The past few months have brought electrifying news that, for the first time, a gene treatment has provided some hearing to children born with deafness.

Eli Lilly announced this week, for example, that a profoundly deaf boy from Morocco given its treatment as part of a clinical trial in Philadelphia can now hear. And five children in China treated similarly at younger ages gained hearing with some able to verbally communicate without their cochlear implants (人工耳蜗). Their hearing recovery, first covered by the press in October 2023, is described in detail this week in The Lancet.

“It’s an enormous achievement,” says geneticist Karen Avraham of Tel Aviv University. Otolaryngologist (耳鼻喉科专家) and gene therapist Lawrence Lustig of Columbia University, whose lab was among the first to test the same approach in mice, agrees. “Other than cochlear implants, we haven’t really had any successful treatments to treat deafness,” he notes.

The various efforts from companies and academic centers each use a virus to insert the same gene, OTOF, into the children’s inner ear so the so-called hair cells there can sense sound and transmit it to the brain.

The new deafness treatments add to a string of recent successes for the gene treatment field, but also raise questions. The ear’s hair cells don’t divide, so the new copies of OTOF they contain should persist and continue to instruct the cells to make OTOF. Gene expression could drop off over time or the ear could mount an immune response that shuts it off.

But Lustig is optimistic that the various challenges will be overcome. “Now that we’ve got one success story, there’s going to be more money coming in to fund some of these other projects,” he says.