Almost thirty years after the birth of Dolly the sheep, cloning remains one of the most mythologised and misunderstood areas of contemporary science. In the collective imagination, it still conjures up science-fiction scenarios — armies of clones, the wealthy ‘duplicating’ themselves, the promise (or threat) of immortality — whilst actual research proceeds along far more limited lines, often overlooked by the general public: from therapeutic cloning for regenerative medicine to the conservation of endangered animal species, right through to the resulting stem cell research.
The panel aims to separate myth from science, exploring the actual state of cloning research, its real technical limitations and its practical applications, alongside the genuine ethical questions it raises — concerning identity, the dignity of life and the boundaries of genetic manipulation — distinguishing these from the fears fuelled more by popular culture than by scientific reality. The discussion will cover how the field has evolved from the 1990s to the present day, and what legitimate possibilities — and what concrete risks — cloning represents for the medicine and biology of the future.
The event will equip the public with the tools for an informed debate on a topic that continues to divide science, ethics and the collective imagination.
