Dolly the Sheep: The First Cloned Mammal
About this episode
This episode discusses the birth of Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal, and its impact on science and society.
On July 5th, 1996, something extraordinary happened that would forever change the landscape of biological science and capture the imagination of people around the world. This was the day that Dolly the sheep was born at the Roslin Institute in Scotland, though the world wouldn't learn about her remarkable existence until the following year. Now, you might be wondering why a sheep qualifies as a celebrity, but Dolly was no ordinary sheep. She became arguably the most famous animal in scientific history, gracing the covers of magazines, becoming the subject of countless news stories, and even inspiring debates in parliaments and religious institutions across the globe. What made Dolly so special was how she came into existence. She was the first mammal ever to be cloned from an adult somatic cell, meaning scientists had taken a cell from a six-year-old ewe's mammary gland and used it to create an entirely new, genetically identical sheep. The team of scientists, led by Sir Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell, had essentially achieved what many thought was impossible, turning back the biological clock and proving that specialized adult cells could be reprogrammed to create a whole new…
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