Here's a major new component to the energy equation. There is evidence that some of the old oil reserves in the Gulf of Mexico are being rather rapidly refilled from unknown, deeper deposits. What would it mean to global politics and economies if we were to find out that oil and gas was much more abundant than previously thought? Based on the existence of seeps that have been active over geologic time scales there has been a minority idea for some time (see Thomas Gold) that supplies of deep natural gas may be quite large but undiscovered. Now there appears to be petroleum seeps in the Gulf that have been active so long that unique forms of life have developed to thrive in them. This may launch a whole new look at our domestic reserves. As a sidebar it is also a testament to the adaptability of life. Not only can life exist without the sun at tremendous depths around hot smokers using sulfur compounds for energy, it can also do quite well using petroleum for energy.

Finally, cogent discussion of the cloning issue. In A SECULAR ARGUMENT AGAINST RESEARCH CLONING Charles Krauthammer lays out what are the real ethical problems of research cloning. While most people absolutely object to what he calls reproductive cloning, I don't. As long as the cloned embryo has an equivalent prospect of undamaged survival as an invitro-fertilization embryo it would be fine with me. I would draw the line at producing clones that had reduced chances for survival. Just as I would not embark on an invitro pregnancy that had a significant chance of not making it to term neither would I embark on a risky clone pregnancy. On the other hand I am not threatened by what would essentially be an identical twin. Krauthammer's argument hinges on intent. It may be ethical to use leftover embryos from IVF for research since they were created with the intent of impregnation. It may be ethical to limit how much one allows such an embryo to develop. (I would set the line at when a brain begins to develop.) But it is not ethical to manufacture differentiated embryos merely to dissect them for spare parts. If we go that far with an embryo it should have the right to live. The best solution would be to develop ways to get as quickly as possible from undifferentiated cells to useful tissue without creating a human individual along the way.