Cloning

Human cloning? Most certainly! But, only one's self. Raise yourself. Have the childhood you always thought you should have had. Quit complaining and blaming others. THERESE H. WHITNEY Sherman Oaks

A breakthrough in stem cell research has again raised the specter of human cloning. The discovery by a team at Oregon Health and Science University moves the world incrementally closer to that result, but its more immediate effect will be to spur efforts to regenerate healthy tissue for the injured and the ailing. Although it's reasonable to worry about where such a discovery may lead, those concerns shouldn't stop researchers from exploring the restorative properties of stem cells. The promise of stem cells is that they can develop into many different kinds of tissues rather than being locked into a specific cellular fate.

If we are going to start cloning cows does that mean we will be eating ice cream clones? FRED STEELE Palm Springs

For the first time, scientists have created human embryos that are genetic copies of living people and used them to make stem cells - a feat that paves the way for treating a range of diseases with personalized body tissues but also ignites fears of human cloning. If replicated in other labs, the methods detailed Wednesday in the journal Cell would allow researchers to fashion human embryonic stem cells that are custom-made for patients with Alzheimer's disease, diabetes and other health problems.

Re "Ancients Arise to Challenge Modern Science," Commentary, June 25: The cloning debate badly needs greater care in terms. Cloning is publicly understood as the process of duplicating an entire being, and the public disapproval of human cloning is nearly universal. As Virginia Postrel's thoughtful commentary describes, therapeutic duplication of individual cells--nerve, blood, skin, etc.--by somatic cell nuclear transfer technology may cure millions, will not lead to human cloning and does not deserve the confusion and stigma the cloning label--even "therapeutic cloning"--provokes.

Re "Perpetual Pets, Via Cloning," March 16: The individuals who want to clone their pets have a truly sad misunderstanding of the basic nature of life and death and are reducing what they think is love to a simple desire to replace an object for which they feel affection, something akin to trying to replace a broken, one-of-a-kind antique. And the companies taking advantage of this misguided desire should be ashamed and run out of business. Not only can cloning not replicate the unique personality that makes each pet so special, but it's totally unnecessary, considering the millions of unwanted cats and dogs that languish in city shelters all over the country, doomed for euthanasia if they aren't adopted.

Re "State Fights Federal Bill on Cloning," Aug. 25 I applaud The Times for publishing an article that admits embryonic stem-cell research involves cloning human embryos. The article explained that advocates of stem cell research purposely avoid the label of cloning and use the technical term "somatic cell nuclear transfer." California voters were intentionally misled by advocates for Proposition 71 on this fact. The state must now face the possibility of a federal ban on all forms of human cloning -- including embryonic stem cell research.

Theater has always been enamored with actors in multiple roles, whether it's "Twelfth Night's" Viola/Cesario or Jeremy Irons' creepy "Dead Ringers. " And ever since Toni Collette won an Emmy for her identity dissociative suburban housewife, TV writers have been dutifully churning out plus-sized characters - most recently "Do No Harm," "Ringer," "My Own Worst Enemy" - for performers looking to expand their repertoire. Most bomb with alarming rapidity because no matter how splendid the actor, doubling down is a big risk - the contrast between two characters often reveals the tics of performance, keeping us at arm's length from the story.

Let's be clear: That Harvard scientist you heard about is NOT seeking an "adventurous woman" to give birth to a "cloned cave baby. " But that was the juicy story making its way around Web on Tuesday . The blowup began when the German magazine Der Spiegel published an interview with Harvard synthetic biologist George Church, who is well-known for his genome sequencing effort, the Personal Genome Project, and for all sorts of other unusual and...

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Want to send a saucy photo? Facebook is looking at a way to do it discreetly. The 1-billion-user social network is reportedly set to release a new app before Jan. 1 that will be similar to Snapchat, an app often used to send "sexts," or sexually explicit content, according to All Things D , citing unnamed sources. QUIZ: How much do you know about Facebook? Snapchat, which has grown in popularity in recent months, allows users to send pictures and videos that disappear after a set time period.

Beta A novel By Rachel Cohn Hyperion, 336 pp.; $17.99, for readers 14 and up There's something about clones that fascinates, whether it's real-world breakthroughs like Dolly the sheep or disturbing fictional accounts, like "Blade Runner. " In "Beta," it's teenagers being replicated in the kickoff to a new series from bestselling young-adult author Rachel Cohn. Many a parent has longed for the type of teen presented here - one who doesn't talk back, plays by the rules and is always accommodating.

Keith H.S. Campbell, a noted biologist who was a key member of the British team that cloned Dolly the sheep, has died. He was 58. The University of Nottingham, where Campbell worked, said he died Oct. 5 but released no other details. In 1991, Campbell began researching animal cloning at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh, conducting experiments that led to the 1996 birth of Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell. He was credited with an important insight that made the experiment work: Campbell realized it was necessary to make sure that the donor cell and the egg were both in the same stage of development, Ian Wilmut, the scientist who led the Roslin team, told The Times in 1997.

SAN JOSE -- After Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in January 2007, Samsung had two choices: It could beat Apple fairly in the marketplace, or it could make a copycat smartphone. That's what lawyer Harold J. McElhinny asserted during Apple's opening statement in federal court Tuesday. McElhinny said Samsung -- whose smartphone devices looked bulky and altogether different before the launch of the iPhone -- did what was "easier" and was soon developing a near-identical smartphone under the Samsung name.

Samsung's S Voice, a Siri-like feature that was supposed to be one of the main attractions of its upcoming Galaxy S III, has leaked. The company announced its upcoming phone and the feature earlier this month, and the device is scheduled to begin selling in Europe next week. "The Galaxy S is more like a good friend that listens to you and responds quickly," Samsung vice president Jean Daniel said regarding the S Voice feature at the Galaxy S III announcement, according to ABC News . But the S Voice feature has reportedly been leaked and can run on any device operating on Android's latest OS version, called Ice Cream Sandwich.  The feature can be downloaded and installed on devices such as the Galaxy Nexus and work the way it's supposed to, according to website Redmond Pie . With the launch of the device so near, the news cannot be good for Samsung.