Science

Less than one year after a baby sheep was cloned from an adult sheep, a scientist in Chicago named Richard Seed has announced that he plans on opening a clinic in the next 90 days to clone human babies. Seed is a physicist who was involved with fertility research in the '80s. NPR science correspondent Joe Palca broke the story about the planned human cloning clinic.

A new book called "Clone" looks at the scientific breakthroughs that made Dolly the cloned sheep possible. The book also examines the ethical debate around cloning. The author is Gina Kolata, who's a science reporter for the New York Times.

Richard Landes is Assistant Professor of History at Boston University and the executive director of the Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University. The center is keeping track of and analyzing apocalyptic and messianic movements related to the coming millennium. Landes will talk with Terry Gross about the upcoming millennium as well as past millennia.

Bill Nye, The Science Guy. Through his long-running PBS show, Nye continues to teach kids about the fun and magic of science. The show "Bill Nye the Science Guy" is also in syndication and Nye has released a series of themed videos culled from his shows. (Interview by Barbara Bogaev)

Physicist Kent Cullers is Project Manager with SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute. A character in the new film "Contact" is based on Cullers. Cullers has been blind since birth and was the first totally blind physicist in the United States.

Science writer Timothy Ferris. He's the author of the bestseller "Coming of Age in the Milky Way." His new book is "The Whole Shebang: A State-of-the Universe(s) Report" (Simon & Schuster). Ferris is an emeritus professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

Gottman talks about what are some of the key factors that lead to either a good or bad marriage. He has studied hundreds of marriages, and found common behaviors that happy couples share. Gottman is author of "Why Marriages Succeed or Fail," "What Predicts Divorce" and "The Heart of Parenting." Gottman is a professor of psychology at the University of Washington.

Science writer David Quammen's new book is "The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions" (Scribner). During his eight years of research, Quammen studied the biogeography of islands around the world. His travels introduced him to plants and animals previously unimagined. Quammen is a two-time recipient of the National Magazine Award for his science essays and other work in Outside magazine.

Scientist and Pulitzer Prize winner Carl Sagan. His new book is "The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark," (Random House).

Biologist Joel E. Cohen. He heads the laboratory of populations at Rockefeller University in New York City. His new book is "How Many People Can the Earth Support?" (W.W. Norton). Cohen's book is "neither an alarmist tract nor a cornucopian lullaby." Cohen considers the central population issues: Has rapid population growth, brought us close to destruction? And what is the carrying capacity of the earth?