...woolly mammoths, that is.

I recently read the following two articles:

Japanese clone mouse from frozen cell, aim for mammoths
Woolly mammoth task: Extinct critter's DNA mappedTo summarize, the first article shows for the first time that it is possible to clone a dead animal whose body had been preserved in ice (for 16 years, not quite 100,000 ( Read more... )

Up front, I shall state that I have taken the term "Kevorkianization" from Glenn McGee, a biomedical ethicist who writes for The Scientist magazine (which used to be free to struggling grad. students -- grrr ( Read more... )

Last time around, I listed common statements made about the "soul" and my responses to them. This time around, I think I shall be brief and just make short statements of my current thoughts on the "soul", organized and cross-linked for your reading pleasure.

• Anything with higher brain function has a "soul".[0] This higher brain function includes ( Read more... )

I've seen a few articles recently on the new field of epigenetics (in Discovery and The ScientistWhat is it ( Read more... )

I wish to take a survey and ask, "How do you, personally, define the word "soul"? I'd like to get an idea of what people here think of the term. Below, I'll summarize thoughts I've had about it. By no means do I claim to understand it exactly.

( Survey )

( Read more... )

Continuing my talk from earlier this afternoon, another topic on which I am often asked questions is cloning. (Why a chemist should be expected to know anything about cloning in the first place brings up another area about the public's misinformation about scientists in general ( Read more... )