Immortality – Hype or Hope?

Stem cell magic | The lame will walk again | Killing cancer cells | The elixir of youth | Find out more

You may also be interested in these other Channel 4 articles

The Race to Make a Human
The story behind the mavericks striving to be first past the post in the human cloning game.

Cloning Ourselves – How Close Are We?
The truth behind recent cloning claims, the reasons for doing it and the dangers involved.

Cloning Ourselves – Ethical Dilemmas
The potential to make a living clone is already with us, here are the ethical arguments laid bare.

Cloning a Cure – How Close Are We?
How cloned human embryos could heal the sick, including the methods and the motivation.

Cloning a Cure – Ethical Dilemmas
A way of healing the sick that involves destroying tiny human embryos. Is it worth the cost?

Cloning FAQs
Answers to some commonly posed questions. Including the difference between the two types of cloning and what stem cell therapy could do for us.

Dolly
The life and times of Dolly the sheep, the first ever cloned mammal.

Severino Antinori biography
The independent fertility specialist who wants to clone whole human beings.

Francis Galton biography
Introduction to the life and work of the man known as the 'Father of Eugenics'.

Find out more

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Websites

National Institutes of Health – Stem Cell Basics
http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/defaultpage.asp
Gives clear explanations of all types of stem cell with FAQs and Reports.

Department of Health: UK Stem Cell Initiative
www.advisorybodies.doh.gov.uk/uksci/
Initiative set up in March 2005 to formulate a 10-year vision for UK stem cell research. Click on 'Related Links' to read the Chief Medical Officer's Report (2000), the House of Lords Select Committee Report on Stem Cell Research (2002) and other relevant papers.

The Geron Corporation
www.geron.com/
Researchers here have been working on an enzyme that reverses the ageing process using human embryonic stem cells.

Glivec
www.glivec.com/index.html
Has information about this new drug, which helps cancer cells to self-destruct. This is already on the market and many more are in the development phase.

The John Hopkins Centre
www.med.jhu.edu/jhtmc/
Scientists at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, USA have already made paralysed rats walk again and hope to begin human trials within the next year.

Hopkins Medical News
www.hopkinsmedicine.org/hmn/W02/feature.html
The story of the John's Hopkins scientist, Douglas Kerr, who is using stem cells to restore function to paralysed rats.

SENS
www.sens.org/
Read about Aubrey's ideas on his website which he calls Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence.

Books

	Clones, Genes, and Immortality by John Harris (Oxford Paperback, 1998) What is cloning and why is the idea of it so disturbing? This book looks at the ethical issues surrounding the revolution in biology that has provided scientists with an unprecedented ability to control human evolution. From designer babies to genetic screening by employers, his book provides a stimulating introduction to the present concerns about the rapid pace of developments in human biotechnology. Get this book
	The Human Embryonic Stem Cell Debate edited by Suzanne Holland (MIT Press, 2001) Looks at the many issues involved in human embryonic stem cell research and considers questions about the nature of human life, the limits of intervention into human cells and tissues, and the meaning of our corporeal existence. The fact that stem cells may be derived from living embryos that are destroyed in the process or from aborted foetuses ties the discussion of stem cell research to the ongoing debates on abortion. Get this book
	The Quest for Immortality by S Jay Olshansky (W W Norton, 2002) Medical science has uncovered a host of answers to the problems of ageing, but many of the most exciting discoveries are buried in scientific journals or overshadowed by popular quick-fix treatments. This text explains the real science of ageing and shows which treatments offered by today's multi-million pound anti-ageing industries offer real hope and which are a waste of money and time. Get this book

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