Time picks cloned dog as top invention

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Snuppy, the first cloned dog, is the
most amazing invention of 2005, Time magazine said on Sunday.

The puppy, a 5-month-old Afghan hound, was cloned at Seoul
National University in Korea by a 45-person team led by
Professor Woo Suk Hwang. Snuppy’s genes are derived from a
single cell taken from the ear of an adult Afghan, rather than
the egg and sperm of a mother and father, Time said.

The technique used to create Snuppy, somatic nuclear cell
transfer, was the same technique British researchers used to
create Dolly the sheep, the world’s first cloned mammal.

South Korea launched an ambitious project last month to
become a global hub for stem-cell storage and research, hoping
to cement its status at the forefront of cloning research. Stem
cells are master cells in the body that can develop into any
cell type.

Time’s technology, science and health writers select
inventions each year they believe may have a huge impact.

Other inventions featured in the magazine, due on
newsstands on November 14, include a bicycle with a
hydrogen-powered fuel-cell engine, a one-time use video
camcorder, and a robotic cat that recognizes speech commands.