Issues & Experts >
Issues & Experts Archive > Week of Jan. 6 – 13, 2003
Week of Jan. 6 – 13, 2003
Document Tools
Jan 07, 2003
Human cloning: eureka or hoax?…Clonaid, a scientific research firm owned by a religious group, has yet to provide concrete proof that it has created the first ever human clone. However, that isn’t stopping the company from announcing that it allegedly has cloned successfully a second baby, this time for a Dutch lesbian couple. The first clone was allegedly born to a couple in the United States. SFU professor of molecular biology Bruce Brandhorst follows cloning research closely. He says, "If I were a betting man I would probably give 100 to one odds that Clonaid has not been successful. The success rates for other mammals, for which there has been much more preliminary information, have remained on the order of a few percent. Even then most of the clones have or develop obvious physical abnormalities, and all that have been tested have aberrant patterns of gene expression." Brandhorst can talk more about how more credible efforts to achieve therapeutic cloning have shown "that it will be more difficult to clone humans than mice and farm animals." Brandhorst can also expand on why he believes we will see some important breakthroughs this year in stem cell research—the production of human or primate embryonic stem cells for nuclear transfer.
Bruce Brandhorst, 604.291.4627, bruce_brandhorst@sfu.ca
Orangutan experts uncover distinct cultures…The world’s leading orangutan researchers have compared notes on their years of exhaustive study and concluded that orangutan populations have their own distinct cultures, and that great-ape cultures may have existed for at least 14 million years. The findings, described in the January 3 issue of Science, mean that as specific orangutan groups become extinct, their unique culture also disappears. SFU primatologist Birute Galdikas, a co-author of the paper Orangutan Cultures and the Evolution of Material Culture http://www.sciencemag.org has spent more than three decades studying the orangutans of Tanjung Puting Park in central Indonesian Borneo and can look at the relevance of the research collaboration. The researchers used a list of cultural variables to compare their findings on everything from food, home ranging, tool use, and nesting and found that each population had its own traditions. "Given that orangutans are on the verge of extinction, it highlights the severity and uniqueness of what we’re losing," says Galdikas. "What this means is that we can’t save one population of orangutans and think we’re saving the species." For more background on Dr. Galdikas’ research check out http://www.science.ca/scientists/scientistprofile.php?pID=7
Biruté Galdikas 323.938.6046 (Los Angeles, from Jan. 9-20, she then returns to Indonesia); Marianne Meadahl, Media/& PR, 604.291.4323
Hold your breath…For the third year, SFU in partnership with members of Performance Freediving and the Canadian Association of Apnea (CAFA) is running an advanced freediver research study starting Jan. 15 in the SFU pool. Freediving or breath-hold diving is an advanced form of snorkeling and has in recent years grown in popularity worldwide as a competitive sport. During the 12-week clinic participants learn skills associated with plunging to depths of more than 160 meters on a single breath, while SFU kinesiologists Andrew Blaber and Eric Seedhouse learn more about the attributes freedivers are able to develop. They note that Canada is developing a growing reputation in the sport after Vancouver diver Mandy-Rae Cruickshank, one of the SFU clinic coaches, set two world records.
Andrew Blaber or Eric Seedhouse, 604.291.5694
Bruce Brandhorst, 604.291.4627, bruce_brandhorst@sfu.ca
Orangutan experts uncover distinct cultures…The world’s leading orangutan researchers have compared notes on their years of exhaustive study and concluded that orangutan populations have their own distinct cultures, and that great-ape cultures may have existed for at least 14 million years. The findings, described in the January 3 issue of Science, mean that as specific orangutan groups become extinct, their unique culture also disappears. SFU primatologist Birute Galdikas, a co-author of the paper Orangutan Cultures and the Evolution of Material Culture http://www.sciencemag.org has spent more than three decades studying the orangutans of Tanjung Puting Park in central Indonesian Borneo and can look at the relevance of the research collaboration. The researchers used a list of cultural variables to compare their findings on everything from food, home ranging, tool use, and nesting and found that each population had its own traditions. "Given that orangutans are on the verge of extinction, it highlights the severity and uniqueness of what we’re losing," says Galdikas. "What this means is that we can’t save one population of orangutans and think we’re saving the species." For more background on Dr. Galdikas’ research check out http://www.science.ca/scientists/scientistprofile.php?pID=7
Biruté Galdikas 323.938.6046 (Los Angeles, from Jan. 9-20, she then returns to Indonesia); Marianne Meadahl, Media/& PR, 604.291.4323
Hold your breath…For the third year, SFU in partnership with members of Performance Freediving and the Canadian Association of Apnea (CAFA) is running an advanced freediver research study starting Jan. 15 in the SFU pool. Freediving or breath-hold diving is an advanced form of snorkeling and has in recent years grown in popularity worldwide as a competitive sport. During the 12-week clinic participants learn skills associated with plunging to depths of more than 160 meters on a single breath, while SFU kinesiologists Andrew Blaber and Eric Seedhouse learn more about the attributes freedivers are able to develop. They note that Canada is developing a growing reputation in the sport after Vancouver diver Mandy-Rae Cruickshank, one of the SFU clinic coaches, set two world records.
Andrew Blaber or Eric Seedhouse, 604.291.5694