Free Republic

Ian Wilmut, the scientist who achieved international notoriety for cloning the sheep Dolly, is now urging his fellow scientists and researchers to abandon embryonic stem cell research.His comments at a conference follow on the major news that Geron, a cloning company the Obama administration funded to undertake the first human clinical trials involving embryonic-like stem cells, abruptly canceled the trials and got out of the embryonic stem cell research business.Wilmut spoke to researchers at a late November event in California and said that embryonic stem cells are not likely going to show promise because they lead to the development of...

MATAMOROS, Mexico — Usually, the 9,000 people on Officer Arcadio Escobar’s beat aren’t too happy to see him go by. But as the deluge from Hurricane Dolly turned the rough Independencia neighborhood here into a nasty brown lake that filled people’s houses Wednesday, he suddenly became one of the most popular guys around. Escobar had exactly 12 hours and 10 gallons of gas — his allotment for the day — to follow a single order: Evacuate people. But the gas ran out before his city police shift did, and the floodwaters, already up to the doors of the patrol pickup,...

Oil companies and offshore drillers continued evacuating workers from facilities in the western Gulf of Mexico Monday as Tropical Storm Dolly tested the companies' storm procedures for the first time in the 2008 hurricane season. Shell removed 60 workers from production platforms Monday after evacuating 125 the day before. Drillers including Rowan Companies, Diamond Offshore, Noble Corp. and Pride International pulled employees off drilling rigs. Oil refiners with facilities on the Gulf Coast, including Valero Energy, Citgo Petroleum and Flint Hills Resources, said they also were monitoring the storm closely but had not halted fuel production or removed workers. The...

MIAMI (Reuters) - A hurricane watch was issued for the southern portion of the Texas coast on Monday as Tropical Storm Dolly emerged from the Yucatan over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and appeared likely to become a hurricane, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Newly formed Tropical Storm Dolly over the NW Caribbean Sea near 18.4N 84.2W. 1008 MB at 11AM this morning. Max sustained winds 40KT, gusts 50KT, moving NW at 15KT. Caribbean BuoysWunderground Tropical UpdatesVisible Satellite imageInfrared Sat Loop

As the creator of Dolly, the world’s first cloned sheep, announced he had abandoned cloning to pursue more promising ways of tapping the potential of stem cells, Democrats in Congress will introduce legislation this week to fund research “to find other good reasons to create and destroy embryos.” Prof. Ian Wilmut’s choice to turn his back on the highly-inefficient and ethically-controversial “therapeutic cloning,” in favor of procedures that would use a patient’s own cells to spawn stem cells, may send shock waves through the scientific world, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it doesn’t discourage Democrats. “There’s no reason to...

BRITISH scientists are planning to create human-rabbit hybrid embryos to speed up research into the causes of inherited conditions such as motor neurone disease and Parkinson's. The controversial work, which involves placing the nucleus of a human cell inside a rabbit egg, is rejected as immoral by churches and anti-cloning campaigners. One of the key ethical problems is whether the hybrid embryo should be treated legally as a human or an animal. Edinburgh University's Professor Ian Wilmut - who created Dolly the Sheep - and colleagues in London believe the hybrids will help them circumvent a shortage of human eggs...

Country superstar Dolly Parton was thrilled when Yusuf Islam agreed to collaborate with her on her new covers album because she wanted to show fans he's a "really sweet man." Parton has been a longtime friend and fan of the folk icon, formerly Cat Stevens, and was horrified when she learned he had been refused entry to America last year. Islam was turned back when his name appeared on a mysterious list of potential terrorist sympathisers. He has been fighting the humiliating immigration mess ever since. And, by including him on her new album, Those Were The Days, patriotic Parton...

Top cloning experts gather in South Korea for clandestine testTop cloning experts from Britain, South Korea and the United States working on ways to use stem cells to treat incurable diseases gathered here to kick-off a week-long secret experiment.The scientists were led by South Korea's Hwang Woo-Suk, Gerald Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and the creator of the cloned sheep Dolly, Professor Ian Wilmut of Scotland's Roslin Institute.They would not say what the experiment would be about, but said it was expected to be over early next week.Schatten however told journalists it would be a scientific...

FRANKFURT, Germany - Dolly the sheep's British creator received Germany's most prestigious medical prize Monday amid criticism of the partly state-funded award by opponents of cloning. About 40 protesters gathered outside the ceremony in Frankfurt to protest the award to Ian Wilmut, the head of the team that created Dolly at Scotland's Roslin Institute in 1996, calling on Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (news - web sites) to voice opposition to the decision. Inside, Wilmut said he would spend the $134,000 payment that comes with the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize on projects to help people with muscle ailments such as...

NEW YORK "The Family Circus" reached its 45th anniversary today. Or maybe it will reach its 45th anniversary tomorrow. That's because the comic panel started on a leap-year day -- Feb. 29, 1960. Bil Keane created "The Family Circus," and now does it with his son, Jeff Keane, for more than 1,500 newspapers via King Features Syndicate.

Ian Wilmut: Human ClonerHow the man who created Dolly the sheep slid down the slippery slope to human reproductive cloning.by Wesley J. Smith IAN WILMUT, the co-creator of Dolly the Sheep, now intends to clone human life. This is quite a shift for Wilmut. When he and Keith Campbell entered the science pantheon with their announcement of the birth of Dolly, they forced the world to grapple with the question of whether it is moral to clone human life. But Wilmut claimed not to be interested in cloning humans. As described in his book, The Second Creation: Dolly and...

LONDON (Reuters) - The scientist who created Dolly the sheep, the world's first cloned mammal, was granted a license Tuesday to clone human embryos for medical research. Professor Ian Wilmut, of the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, plans to obtain stem cells for research into Motor Neurone Disease (MND), a procedure that divides the medical world along ethical lines. Britain's cloning watchdog, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), granted the license Tuesday to Wilmut, Dr Paul de Sousa from Edinburgh and Professor Christopher Shaw from King's College London. It is only the second such license granted in Britain. "Our aim...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)-- Taking sides in a cultural battle, some of the nation's top artists -- including Mandy Moore, Dolly Parton -- have contributed to a CD that benefits the nation's largest homosexual activist organization. All of the proceeds from the CD, "Love Rocks," will go to the Human Rights Campaign -- a homosexual activist organization that has figured prominently in the push to legalize same-sex "marriage" nationwide and works to promote "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights." The two-disk CD set -- which is being released just in time for Valentine's Day -- features some 30 artists, including Yoko...

Stanley Coren has a solution to help fix Canada's ailing health care system: Prescribe dogs to isolated seniors and others with medical needs. Arguably one of the world's foremost authorities on man's best friend, Coren says the elderly are less likely to get depressed and heart attack victims are more likely to live longer if they own a dog. "If we measure what happened when you touch a familiar and friendly dog, what we find is your breathing becomes more regular, your muscles relax, your heart rates slows, you show all the signs of reduced stress," Coren says, citing a...

• 53-year-old said to be suffering depression • Professor had crucial role in Dolly creation • Funeral set to be held at weekend THE head of the science lab which created Dolly the sheep has been found hanging in his holiday home. Professor John Clark, who was believed to have been suffering from depression was found in his remote cottage in the village of Cove, north of Eyemouth, on the Berwickshire coast. Prof Clark lead the Roslin Institute in Midlothian, one of the world’s leading animal biotechnology research centres. He played a crucial role in creating the transgenic sheep that...

Lets turn the clock back to 1996, when the religious, ethical, and scientific debate on cloning began as the world was introduced to Dolly, the first cloned animal. And although the idea of cloning for some is disturbing in regard to the balance of nature, the most important (at least in OUR opinion) issue at hand is whether or not food from cloned animals should be sold. That's right, THE ISSUE IS WHETHER CLONED MEAT IS SAFE FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION. Can you just imagine going into a supermarket or fast foodery near you and being asked to choose between a...

The day will be the most memorable in the history of America. I am apt to believe it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival... It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward for ever more." John Adams, July 3, 1776 The Concert It's America's biggest birthday party! Join the celebration this July 4th from the grounds of the U.S. Capitol when A Capitol Fourth 2003 kicks off a brilliant evening of...

Cloned Sheep Dolly, Now Stuffed, Goes on Display Wed Apr 9, 8:57 AM ET LONDON (Reuters) - She was created by biotechnicians, debated by theologians and finally put to sleep by veterinarians. Now Dolly the sheep has been stuffed by taxidermists and put on display before the public. The stuffed remains of Dolly -- the first cloned adult mammal -- were unveiled on Wednesday at the Edinburgh International Science Festival. "She's looking great," said a spokeswoman for Edinburgh's Royal Museum where she now stands. "She's on all fours and her head is slightly tilted to one side." "She used to...

<p>LONDON, England -- Dolly, the world's first cloned sheep, has been euthanized after being diagnosed with progressive lung disease, the Roslin Institute has said.</p> <p>The decision was taken to end her life at the age of 6 after a veterinary examination confirmed the lung disease, a statement from the institute said.</p>

LONDON (AP) _ Dolly the sheep, the world's first mammal cloned from an adult, has died after being diagnosed with progressive lung disease, the Roslin Institute said Friday. The decision to end the life of 6-year-old Dolly was made after a veterinary examination confirmed the lung disease, a statement from the institute said. Dolly was born in 1996, and she created an international sensation when the Scottish research institute announced its achievement on Feb. 23, 1997. In 1999, scientists noticed that the cells in Dolly's body _ cloned from a 6-year-old sheep _ had started to show signs of wear...

HOLLYWOOD, Florida (Reuters) - A company associated with a group that believes extraterrestrials created mankind claimed Friday that it had produced the first clone of a human being. The company, Clonaid, announced it had created a healthy baby girl who was a clone of the 31-year-old American woman who gave birth to her. No proof was provided for the claim. "I'm very very pleased to announce that the first baby clone is born," Clonaid director Brigitte Boisselier, a former research chemist in France, said at a news conference in Hollywood, north of Miami.