Cloning Jack
Biologist Ben Garrod is aware that his elderly pet hasn鈥檛 got many years left, should Ben clone his dog Jack?
Broadcaster and biologist, Professor Ben Garrod first met Jack in Africa. From that moment on, they've been inseparable.
They travelled back to the UK and, for more than a decade, have shared their lives: living together, working, travelling, and growing older side by side.
Jack has been Ben鈥檚 constant companion: his friend, and the perfect dog.
But Jack is getting old.
As Ben begins to confront the reality of Jack鈥檚 ageing, he finds himself considering an extraordinary possibility.
The UK鈥檚 first commercial pet cloning service offers a procedure that promises a genetic duplicate of Jack. In theory, a clone would look the same and behave in similar ways, but would it really be Jack?
Ben explores what pet cloning truly involves. He meets scientists and ethicists, examines the limits of genetics, and reflects on grief, attachment, and what it means to love an animal.
Can science ever replicate the bond we share with our pets?
And when the time comes, will Ben clone Jack?
Featuring: Author of The Year of the Puppy and Adjunct Associate Professor of Dog Cognition at Barnard College, Alexandra Horowitz; Author of Designing Babies: How Technology Is Changing the Way We Create Children and Professor of Bioethics at the University of Columbia, Robert Klitzman; and wildlife veterinary surgeon, Dr Elliott Simpson Brown.
Presenter: Professor Ben Garrod from the University of East Anglia
Producer: Harrison Lewis
Editor: Martin Smith
Last on
Broadcasts
- Wed 21 Jan 2026 15:30麻豆社 Radio 4
- Tue 27 Jan 2026 23:00麻豆社 Radio 4