Newly developed techniques could make cloning Neanderthal cells or body parts a reality within a few years. The ability to use the genes of extinct hominins is going to force the field of paleoanthropology into some unfamiliar ethical territory.

Scientists are talking for the first time about the old idea of resurrecting extinct species as if this staple of science fiction is a realistic possibility, saying that a living mammoth could perhaps be regenerated for as little as $10 million.

South Korean researchers have announced the successful creation of the world's first dog. The feat suggests that a market in cloned dogs, through which people grieving the loss of their favorite pets could order genetic duplicates, may not be as futuristic as some had thought. And by leapfrogging a seven-year-old, multimillion dollar U.S. effort, the success has clinched South Korea's quickly growing reputation as a premier center for cloning and stem cell research.

The world's first cloning of a dog has raised concerns that scientists are one step closer to replicating human beings, despite the breakthrough pointing to treatments for currently-incurable human diseases.

The pet cloning industry, where pet owners can pay $35-50,000 to have their favorite pet cloned, is slowly maturing but critics charge that it is wasteful and inhumane.

Scientists have succeeded in cloning flies. The research may help to fine-tune the cloning process in other animals and even in humans, for therapeutic stem cells.

Dr. Fukyama argues that the recent cloning of a human embryo by South Korean researchers demonstrates "both the speed with which science is moving ahead, and the urgent necessity to break the current logjam over cloning legislation that leaves the United States as one of the few developed countries without a legal framework in this area."

A smoldering global debate over human cloning is likely to flare following a report this week that researchers in South Korea have for the first time cloned human embryos and used them to produce a type of cell widely regraded as a potential key to treating a range of diseases.

The recent production of the first human cloned embryo in Seoul highlighted the price the United States and other Western nations may pay for their unresolved debate over human embryonic stem cells: if they lose their technical lead, they also forfeit the chance to set the ethical rules of the game.

Almost seven years after the birth of Dolly the sheep shocked scientists and the public, cloning has shown mixed progress. Scientists have achieved it in more than a dozen mammal species but an efficient cloning process still eludes them. Clones are more prone to physical defects than regular animals are. And researchers haven't been able to duplicate monkeys from adult or fetal tissue, a goal that could help medical research.