They are substantially different in a bad way.”Coral reef ecosystems are going to be significantly impacted by climate change. “It definitely shows that global warming is having an impact on corals.”The changes are unprecedented in thousands of years. On a 4,000-year timescale, things are substantially different now from the way they were before. Until now, these reefs have survived undisturbed for thousands of years.A study by a team of American scientists has discovered firm evidence to link the dramatic decline of coral reefs growing in warm equatorial waters with the rise in sea-surface temperatures seen in recent years.Richard Aronson, a marine biologist at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama and co-author of the study, said that about 10 per cent of tropical coral reefs around the world have already been affected or destroyed over the past 30 years, and the prospects for the remaining corals are not good.”More than half will be ruined or degraded certainly by 2100, to be as conservative as possible and assuming we don’t do anything about it,” Dr Aronson told the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Seattle.

No proof has since been forthcoming.2003 Millionaire John Sperling funds the first cloning of a pet, a calico kitten called Cc (Copy Cat). Other animals, including three pigs who died of heart attacks, have since been cloned.2004 Woo Suk Hwang and his team at the Seoul National University announce they have cloned the first human embryo, using a similar technique to the one that produced Dolly the sheep.Malcolm Doney. More than half of the world’s coral reefs – the tropical rainforests of the ocean – could be lost by the end of the century, according to the latest analysis of the marine environment’s most vulnerable ecosystem. People are mistrustful of scientists and are reluctant to accept scientific advice. We have seen mistrust demonstrated in the reluctance to accept the safety of the measles vaccine. The outcome is that there may be a serious epidemic and children may die unnecessarily.

And if we scientists are foolish enough to exaggerate what we might be able achieve with other projects, public mistrust will increase. We can be sure that the backlash will be huge when our exaggerations concern controversial areas like cloning.Robert Winston is professor of fertility studies at Imperial College London, and director of NHS research and development for Hammersmith Hospital Timeline1984 Danish scientist Steen Willadsen, working for the British Agricultural Research Council, clones a lamb from sheep embryo cells, using a technique known as nuclear transfer, the placing of a cell nucleus into a hollowed-out unfertilised egg.1995 Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh clone a sheep (named after country singer Dolly Parton) using cells taken from the mammary of a six-year-old ewe. Six years later Dolly is put down, suffering from progressive lung disease, a condition only usually found in much older animals.1998 Advanced Cell Technology says it has cloned primitive human embryonic stem cells by fusing a human somatic cell with a cow’s egg, opening the possibility of supplies of stem cells for transplant medicine.2002 His Holiness Rae, leader of the Raelian Movement, which believes humans are cloned aliens, claims to be behind the birth of Eve, the world’s first cloned human baby. The Korean research is useful because it will add to our understanding of stem cells. But it is a long way from contributing to a successful medical treatment for anything. So by understanding how to regulate the growth of these stem cells we are likely to discover effective methods for many cancer treatments in the future.I remain worried about the bizarre hype surrounding cloning.