Lot's Wife Edition 1 2016

SCIENCE
Orphan Black
Human reproductive cloning has never been publicly
completed. Yet in the world of Orphan Black, Sarah
Manning (Tatiana Maslany) learns that she is one
of many clones created in 1984. That’s right, forget
Dolly the sheep of 1993, and forget Idaho Gem, the
famed racing mule of 2003; Orphan Black creators
Graeme Manson and John Fawcett suggest that the
80s was where the race to human cloning began
and ended.
Over the course of last year’s third season
(massive spoiler alert), Sarah Manning discovers
that along with the female clones she’s met, her
family extends to a heap of brother clones (Ari
Millen). Things get even more extreme when the
show reveals that these male and female clones
aren’t just siblings, their DNA is derived from the
exact same person!
According to the explanation offered in the
show, an individual may absorb their twin in the
womb, and thereby carry two independent cell lines.
This individual would have cell nuclei that could
bring forth both male and female clones.
As it happens, Orphan Black’s logic is more than just
possible: it’s proven science.
Vanishing twin syndrome (VTS) is a
scientifically documented phenomenon, whereby a
twin appears to disappear from the uterus. This is
often due to one twin being absorbed into the other.
If the two merging cell lines were from identical
twins, there would be no noticeable difference
between the DNA in cells. But when non-identical
twins are merged, the individual would carry two
distinct cell lines. They would become what is termed
a tetragametic chimera. If non-identical twins of
different sexes were merged, the resulting individual
could indeed produce male and female clones,
exactly as it is suggested in Orphan Black’s third
season. ‘
Rating:
It’s All About Love
The most annoying depictions of cloning and genetic
modification in film occur as what some might call
‘genetics lite’. This is when science is used merely
as an aesthetic trick to distract the audience. In my
mind, one of the worst offenders in this category is
the 2003 romance drama, It’s All About Love.
The film follows a champion ice skater (Claire
Danes) as she slips into a long-winded conspiracy.
Her family plans to murder her, and install an ice
skating clone replica.
Unlike in Orphan Black¸ the science of the
cloning in It’s All About Love is incredibly thin. The
audience is told that human clones can be created
by playing around with the chemicals inside the
human brain. This isn’t even close to being accurate.
The reproductive cloning process involves
Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT), where a
somatic cell (body cell) nucleus from a donor
specimen is fused into a host egg cell (oocyte). The
oocyte will reprogram the donated nucleus into a
primitive, undifferentiated form, and henceforth the
clone begins prenatal development like a regular
embryo. There is no cheap shortcut for cloning.
It’s All About Love gets even more silly. In an
absurd scene, a television reporter announces that
alongside human heart issues and inversed weather
patterns around the globe, the laws of gravity have
been messing up above Eastern Africa, causing
hundreds of people to fly off into space. I don’t need
to go into why all that makes no sense.
To sit through all of It’s All About Love is
not something I would recommend. The scientific
references in the film were all tokenistic – perhaps
they were thrown in last. If you think that your soft
spot for Claire Danes or Joaquin Phoenix will improve
the film, let me tell you, it sadly does not. I only wish
that I could go back to spend that hour and a half of
my life differently, perhaps by reading ‘Theoretical
Astrophysics for Dummies’ or watching Jurassic Park.
Rating:
36 | Lot’s Wife