On Thursday a team of researchers at Newcastle University in the UK, which hopes to join South Korea in the forefront of stem cell research, also said they had successfully cloned an human embryo.

CNN: Cloning success hailed, feared

They used stem cells from a human embryo, which are capable of becoming any other type of cell in the human body from nerve to skin, muscle to kidney.

BBC: Deaf gerbils 'hear again' after stem cell cure