“We show for the first time that the same genes turned on in normal human embryos are the same genes turned on in human clones,” said Robert Lanza, scientific director of Advanced Cell Technologies and co-author of a study published Monday in Cloning and Stem Cells.

So the genes activated during the cloning process are the same as the genes activated during normal embryonic development? That’s not very hard to believe. Lanza and his team used a process known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) to implant cell nuclei from humans into hollowed egg cells from both humans and animals and stimulated them into development, which is a standard process in cloning experimentations. Many of the cloned embryos displayed the same characteristics as a conventional embryo fertilized in vitro.

“The DNA resembles the DNA of a normal human embryo, which raises the question of human reproductive cloning,” said Lanza.

With the recent news that stem cell research will be receiving more funding and support from the federal government, Lanza’s embryonic cloning procedures may be getting a boost and might have the chance of getting some real scientific merit. I doubt that we’ll be seeing any actually cloning going on any time soon, though. The 6th Day? I don’t think so.

The upcoming film that I am most looking forward to for 2009 is by far the graphic novel adapted ‘Watchmen.’ The original graphic novel was included on the list of the top 100 novels of all time, and justly so as it was a deeply moving and compelling storyline. Early screenings of the film have shown the movie to be just as compelling as the source material, which makes me super excited. I loved 300 so I knew that director Zack Snyder would do a good job.

Above is the ‘final’ poster for Watchmen, which hits theaters next month. I can’t wait.

I’ll preface this by stating that Google Earth has been one of my favorite apps ever since it debuted in 2006. I don’t use it all that often, considering I don’t necessarily need to be browsing a 3D representation of the planet all that frequently, but I love it for its innovation and just plain beautiful appearance. I have spent a lot of time in the past exploring the planet with the app, and I feel that it is a great contribution to the open source community.

Somewhat recently, Google Earth was upgraded to include the “Sky” feature, a 3D mapping of the stars, galaxies, and other celestial bodies of outer space. Having a quick navigable interface allowing interaction with the known universe is a great jump, in my opinion, and I personally find the option fascinating. I’ve always had an interest in space and astronomy so I’m glad that Google gave us the ability to browse it at our own leisure in a visual medium, rather than having to rely on other indirect textual resources.

Next for Google Earth will be another upgrade with a new “Ocean” feature, which will give the users the ability to browse the oceans of the Earth. The project is expected to be announced soon with a running plan to map the ocean floors and seabeds of the deep sea, which will bring Google closer to their goal of mapping the entire planet.

“This is the part that’s really exciting,” said David Sandwell, professor of geophysics at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, at the University of San Diego, “[people] will understand that we know almost nothing about a lot of these places, and Google will do it for us. There are big voids everywhere, but there are a few little spots where we know quite a lot.”