Science Train - Cloning

(2)Dr. Le'Fart

(1) Dr. Smeaully

                                                                    Hello kids! Welcome to the Science Train! Nice to meet you! My name is Doctor Smeaully(1), pronounced Smell-ly, Dr. S for short. No kids, I do not stink! I do shower about once a week! I am the old guy on the left! I am not bald, I just shave my head everyday, keeps the lice away! Oh, excuse me. On the right is my partner. Since red is my favorite color, my words will be red when I speak, and blue will be for my partner. Introduce yourself doctor! Hello children! How are you? My name is Doctor Le'Fart (2), pronounced Leh-phart, or Dr. L for short. My name is French. It does not mean that I fart a lot, only when I eat beans! I love the color blue, so every time I talk, my words will be in blue! Isn't that cool? Well, welcome children. Today, Dr.S and I wanted to talk to you children about cloning! Yes, Dr. L, cloning! Oh, my favorite subject! I know you kids are smart, but let's go on a journey to find out what it is! Come on aboard our Science Train (3)!

Science Train (3)

Dr. S and Dolly (4)

   
  Buckle up children, or like we say in France "Boucler!" Does anyone have any clue what cloning means? You may be thinking it just having two things that are exactly the same, and you are correct! Congrats, you win a pat on the back! Go, give it to yourself now! Awesome work children! Cloning is basically having two of something. They look exactly the same! If I may interrupt Dr. L? Yes, go on ahead Dr. Smeaully! Great job kids you are doing great, but I can take over from here Dr. L. You guys are right! Cloning is like having a double of something. Here we are at our first stop on our Science Train. Oh wow, look! There is the photo of me with Dolly(Dall-ley)(4). She was the first ever cloned animal (5). There I am on the right with her! Isn't she beautiful? They were really hard to tell apart. They looked exactly the same, kind of like all vegetables do! How lucky Dr. S. I wish I got to see her! Dolly was created through a process called Reproductive Cloning. There are two other ways of cloning called Gene and Therapeutic, but Reproductive is our favorite one! Yes, Dr. L, very well said! Now, on our Science Train, we have 2 stops to make to figure out what Reproductive cloning is! Hold on! 

Somatic Cell (6)

     Oh, my stomach. Are you kids okay? Well, here we are at the first stop called Somatic Cells. Somatic cells are basically just a cell of a person being cloned (7)! You all know what cells are right? Cells are these little tiny organisms inside of us! They are everywhere. In our pee, on our hands, even in your mouth! Right now, touch your hand! Did you know that you are touching millions of cells right now? Isn't that amazing? So, all we have to do is gather that Somatic cell. They are actually quite tiny! Look at this photo on the gallery outside of our train (6)! Ew, they aren't that nice looking! They look like spider nests! AH, I am scared of spiders! A cool fact is that you can't even see them with your own eyes! They are so small, even smaller than a booger! You can only see them with a microscope! Now, once we have this little Somatic Cell, you then fuse it with the egg of a female donor (8)! I know what you kids are thinking, eggs! I love eggs! However, these are not the eggs you eat!

NOT THIS EGG! (9)

    These eggs (9) are special eggs that only your mommies have, and you girls do too! These eggs are part of how you were born! They are very important. A female donor is just a lady who donates her eggs, like you kids donate toys! It doesn't hurt, it is fast! Once we have these two, we just fuse them, or mix them like water and tea, we get iced tea! Now that we have our mix, Dr. L can explain the next step! Once we have our mix, all we need to do is add a little electricity to make an embryo(10). An embryo is just a place where the baby clone will grow! So now we have an embryo! Perfect. We only have one last step to go, off to the last station!

Surrogate Mother (11)

   
     Oh, we made it! Here we are, at the surrogate mother (11). A surrogate mother is just a mommy who will carry that embryo and nurture it (12). Look on the right side of our Science Train, here we see some surrogate mothers! They are any age, any size, and any race! It doesn't matter, as long as you can carry a baby, you can do it! We put the embryo in them, and then they carry the baby! Then after 9 months, the baby would be born and it would be a clone! Isn't that crazy kids? Let's go back home to discuss the possibilities of this. 
    
   Wow, and we are back! Well kids, how did you like that Science Train? It sure is my favorite! Now, cloning seems crazy and really long right? Actually, it has not been successfully completed yet! We are still trying to clone people, but we haven't yet! But do not worry, in the future, we will accomplish it! Yes, I agree Dr. L. Hopefully one day I can have a clone of myself, but one with hair! You too kids! How awesome would it be to have a clone of yourself? Your clone could go to school, while you stayed at home and slept! If you kids really want to know more about it, check out my best friend Bill Nye's awesome video on clones!CLICK HERE!(13) Thanks kids for joining us on our Science Train and learning about cloning! Until next time, bye, or as I say in French, Au Revoir! See you later Dr. Le'Fart! I hope you enjoyed our talk today! Until next time, be safe kids! Remember, clones will happen soon! So the next time you talk to your teacher ask yourself, are they a clone?! Maybe even asks your parents! (14) 
   

Are my parents clones?(14)

 References

            (1) Daniels, L. (2008). Stock Vector Cartoon scientist [cartoon]. Retrieved from http://russki.istockphoto.com/illustration-7812553-scientist-cartoon.php

(2) Anonymous. (2014). Mad Scientist [cartoon]. Retrieved from http://villains.wikia.com/wiki/Mad_Scientist

(3) Anonymous. (n.d.) Cartoon Picture of Engine Train [cartoon]. Retrieved from http://imagebasket.net/1337-cartoon-picture-of-train-engine.php?pics=true

(4)Daniels, L. (2008). Scientist Cloning Cartoon [cartoon]. Retrieved from http://www.freeimages.com/premium/scientist-cloning-cartoon-1170767

(5)Bonsor, K., & Conger, K. (2001, April 2). How human cloning will work. Retrieved from http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/genetic/human-cloning1.htm

(6) Clark, J. (2014). Somatic Cell [photo]. Retrieved from http://qwforex.com/why-you-need-to-know-about-monitoring-somatic-cell-counts/

(7) National human genome research institute. (2015, June 11). Cloning. Retrieved from https://www.genome.gov/25020028

(8) Bonsor, K., & Conger, K. (2001, April 2). How human cloning will work. Retrieved from http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/genetic/human-cloning1.htm

(9) Anonymous. (2010). Eggless Substitutions in Baking and Cooking [image]. Retrieved from http://chefinyou.com/egg-substitutes-cooking/

(10) Bonsor, K., & Conger, K. (2001, April 2). How human cloning will work. Retrieved from http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/genetic/human-cloning1.htm

(11) Anonymous. (2014). Swedish feminists condemn surrogacy [cartoon]. Retrieved from http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/swedish_feminists_condemn_surrogacy/11180

(12) How stuff works. (2013) How human cloning will work. Retrieved from http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/genetic/human-cloning1.htm

(13) Eli, W. (2012, August 28). The Eyes of Nye - Cloning (Season 1, Episode 4) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4vOPaonZng

(14) Roy, C. (2013). 'Hey Dad what is cloning?...Ask your mother! [cartoon]. Retrieved from http://www.jantoo.com/cartoon/57630015