Page 187 - Big Ideas Year 10 sciPAD 2025

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SCIPAD - BIG IDEAS - BOOK 2
THE BASIS OF HEREDITY
Cloning - Making Frankenstein?
Cloning means making copies of living things by copying their DNA. For a long time, it was
associated with sci-fi stories, but today cloning is a scientific reality.
In 1997, Dolly the sheep became famous for being the first cloned mammal. Since then, numerous
other animals have been cloned. No one has yet cloned a human. Most scientists agree that the
method used to clone Dolly would work on humans too. However, most countries have banned
human cloning for the purpose of making human babies. But... if we were to ignore the law for a
second, here’s how we could clone our very own Albert Einstein.
A skin cell (containing all 46
chromosomes) is taken from
Albert Einstein.
An egg cell (containing only
23 chromosomes) is taken
from a donor.
The nuclei are removed from
both cells.
The nucleus from Einstein’s cell
(containing all 46 chromosomes) is
inserted into the donor egg cell. The egg cell now contains all the
instructions to make Albert Einstein.
The egg cell is surgically
inserted into the donor’s
womb.
9 months later, a baby is born that is a perfect
genetic clone of Albert Einstein.
Micropipette sucks
out the nucleus.
Albert Albert
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