9/11 Rescue Dog Cloned
(Scientists produce five clones of a dog that assisted with 9/11 search and rescue, and died in April)
Trakr Walks Again: Trust, Solace, Prodigy, Valor and Dejavu, the cloned German shepherds
There were a lot of heroes on and after 9/11, and as the the Kennel Club reminds us, not all of them were bipedal. Now, one of those courageous canines has been brought back to life through cloning.
Trakr, a German shepherd who assisted with search and rescue in the rubble of Ground Zero, died in April. However, Trakr's DNA was saved, and BioArts International produced five clones of the dog. Yesterday, the clones were presented to James Symington, the Canadian police officer who led Trakr through the wreckage of the World Trade Center.
BioArts International selected Trakr after running a contest that would give free cloning to a dog it deemed as the world's most "cloneworthy." Normally, cloning a dog costs over $100,000. Also of interest, BioArts cloned Trakr with the help of Hwang Woo-Suk, the South Korean scientist who falsely claimed to have cloned a human.
Construction Begins on Spaceport America
(After years of planning, ground is officially being broken in New Mexico for the world's first interstellar airport)
Spaceport America: In spaceport, no one can hear you buying the latest John Grisham book
For everyone looking to hop the next commercial flight to space, your departure gate has finally been announced. Almost two years after the first plans were announced, construction has finally begun on Spaceport America. The spaceport, which will serve as the launch and landing pad for Virgin Galactic flights, is the first of its kind anywhere in the world, and represents the first serious commitment of infrastructure to manned commercial spaceflight.
According to the the project website the festivities kick off today with a a panel of speakers, food and drink, and even a mariachi band. Tomorrow, the construction begins in earnest.
Currently, Virgin Galactic only has two space ships, so it will probably be sometime before the facility experiences O'Hare and LaGuardia level traffic. So now might be the best time to sign up for a flight, before Spaceport America starts experiencing the soul-crushing delays that keep John Grisham, Hudson News, and Brookstone in business.