Scientists remain unsure why this has happened or whether a longer lifespan will result. But they believe the finding will have a profound impact on the use of cloning for medical purposes. "

"They hope that in the future cloning will enable a patient's own tissue to be used to grow compatible transplant tissue which would also be youthful."

redux [04.04.00]
Wired New Answers to Age-Old Question
""In order to come up with drugs, we need to understand [the aging] process. Before we didn't know where to aim our gun, but now we have a model," said Danith Ly, lead author of a study published Friday in Science that identified one common element in aging tissues throughout the body. "We've provided a general marker for identifying aging, and a model for explaining the process."

"The researchers examined 6,800 genes associated with aging by using DNA microarrays, or chips, to look at gene-expression patterns. The scientists placed bits of DNA from known genes on a fingernail-sized chip and exposed it to fluorescent light, highlighting the active genes.

Only 61 out of the 6,800 genes studied lit up, indicating that only a small number of genes are active in the aging process. That narrows the playing field for researchers. "

redux [02.04.00]
The New York Times Magazine The Recycled Generation
[requires 'free' registration]
"After stuffing every cow egg with its little spud of human DNA, Sawyer prepares the next step. She gives the cells a zap of 120 volts. The jolt of electricity effectively fuses man and beast into a single biological fate. After one final step, this . . . this thing will believe it has been fertilized and, if all goes well, begin cleaving, or dividing, in the bubbling, momentous arithmetic of life lifting off the pad: 2 cells, 4 cells, 8 cells, 16 cells, 32 cells --"

Eurekalert! New fertility technique to help women have own genetic baby from donor egg
""A major advance in a fertility treatment technique may one day help some women using donated eggs to have a baby that would carry nearly all her own genes instead of those of the donor.

A combined team of French, Spanish and Italian fertility experts report today (Thursday 27 April) in the journal Human Reproduction* that they have developed a novel method of membrane fusion which would allow the nucleus from the egg of an infertile women to be successfully transferred into the cytoplasm of a donor egg from which the nucleus had been removed. As the nucleus carries most of the genes, transferring it to an enucleated donor egg means that the infertile woman would give birth to a baby who would be almost entirely genetically her own as well as her partner's."

The Third Culture The Coming Transformation in Human Life and Society in the Post-Genomic World
"Although there hasn't been any shortage of stories on genes in the press, public dialogue hasn't even begun to seriously consider how radically genetic technologies will alter human life and society — and probably all much sooner than we think."

"My bet is that feasible technologies to retool human life will put us face to face with the basic dilemma of deciding what it means to be human within two decades."