Cloning's not a new idea: the Greeks had a word for it centuries ago

The origin and evolution of the term "clone"

In biology, the term "clone" is most widely used to designate genetically identical cells or organisms that are asexually descended from a common progenitor. The concept of clonality in hematology-oncology has received much attention in recent years, as the advent of next-generation sequencing platforms has provided new tools for detection of clonal populations in patients, and experiments on primary cells have provided fascinating new insights into the clonal architecture of human malignancies. The term "clone" is used more loosely by the general public to mean any close or identical copy. Cloning of humans has been a staple of science fiction films and dystopian novels since Aldous Huxley's Brave New World was published in 1932. Here I trace the origin and evolution of the word clone, from its first use as an agricultural and botanical term in 1903, to its widespread adoption in biology, adaptation by artists, and contemporary use in hematology-oncology.

Centuries ago scholars had knowledge about inheritance of psychiatric disorders and behavioral traits

The author presents evidence that a genetic contribution to the development of psychiatric disorders and behavioral traits has been appreciated for many centuries. The author suggests that people had knowledge about inheritance of behavioral features and psychiatric illnesses centuries ago. Physicians all through the ages have confronted similar psychiatric problems, and their struggle to understand, classify, and treat such afflictions may have begun earlier than commonly believed.

Animal cloning--the route to new genomics in agriculture and medicine

This paper reviews the origin and development of animal cloning in metazoans starting with primitive experiments performed during the late 1880's and early 1900's, followed by nuclear transplantation in amphibians in 1952, then extended to fish and insects in the 1960's, and finally to mammals in the 1980's. Emphasis is placed on the applications of mammalian cloning to agriculture, medicine, and the conservation of endangered species. In addition, the introduction of genes via random insertion or gene targeting into the genome of donor cells to be used for cloning has opened up another route for new genomics in agriculture and medicine. The production of transgenic clones starting in 1997 has indeed contributed a milestone to scientific research. Although cloning efficiency is still low, certain kinds of experiments are quite feasible, and we anticipate improvements in the future.