See, Star Trek was right....

Remember the one Next Generation episode with the planet of clones stealing genetic material from the crew of the Enterprise because after so many copies, the genetic integrity broke down, and they needed an influx? This is somewhat similar.

Trees can't live forever without sex, study shows

Certain trees are able to clone themselves, which raises the tantalising possibility that they could effectively "live forever".

But a study published in the journal PLoS Biology has dashed that hope.

Dr Dilara Ally and her team at the University of British Columbia, Canada, found that the fertility of clones declines with age.

This means that a tree cannot clone itself indefinitely; it must eventually sexually reproduce, or it will die.

The secret of eternal life has been sought by human alchemists for centuries, but certain trees were thought to have evolved the knack, through cloning.

Does anyone besides me think this is a bad idea?

If you've read this blog for any length of time, you've probably figured out that I like science. Before I burned out on chemistry, I actually planned to be an oecologist when I first went to college. But transgenic animals (and plants, for that matter) really make me nervous. Can they really guarantee that these manipulated species do not get into the gene pool? I also found it interesting that two of the six puppies born died.

Harumpf.

Scientists claim to have cloned glowing dogs

Just bizarre

Cloned puppies expose old mystery: Dog owner admits links to Mormon sex slave scandal 31 years ago

Well, we knew it would happen sometime...

Mature Human Embryos Created From Adult Skin Cells

The aim was to prove it was possible to usher in the additional possibility of harvesting stem cells from a person's own clone so there would be no rejection of tissue. Stem cells were not harvested in this experiment, but the embryos grew to the stage where others would have been implanted. There were no plans to do this; the leader of the study described such a thing as 'illegal and immoral'.

But you know it's just a matter of time.