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Somatic cell nuclear transfer is a type of cloning. Cloning is the process in which a genetically identical duplicate of an organism is created. Dolly, the sheep, is a clone.
To start the process of cloning, scientists get an unfertilized egg cell. The next step is to remove the nucleus from the egg cell. The nucleus is the brain of the cell, with all the genetic material that tells the cell how to grow and reproduce. There are many ways to remove the nucleus. One way is to expose the cell to radiation. The radiation destroys the nucleus. Once the nucleus is gone, scientists can continue on with the process.
The next step is to inject another nucleus from a "somatic cell" into the egg cell. A somatic cell is a cell that comes from the body that composes tissues, organs or other parts of the body. The somatic cell has genetic codes in it that make the cell grow.
Once the nucleus is injected into the egg cell, the last step is to stimulate the cell to start growing and reproducing. There are many ways to stimulate the cell. One way is to use electricity. Once the cell is stimulated, it starts to divide and grow. Soon you have an embryo. Scientists then inject the embryo into the womb of a female of the same species (for example if you were cloning a cow, you would put the embryo in a cow's womb). The embryo develops into a baby human, sheep, or whatever organism you happen to be cloning. Although this process sounds foolproof, it is far from it. The failure rate of cloning is 99%, but scientists are working on it, so someday in the future, cloning will be an easy and harmless process.
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