The Download: Flock’s new rules, cloning’s future, and children’s cells

Flock, the police-tech company, is tightening its rules in response to growing concerns over surveillance backlash. Officers will now require a criminal case number before searching Flock's nationwide database of license plate readers, and the company will expand automated auditing of suspicious searches. However, the lack of verification of these case numbers means officers could still find ways around the new safeguards.

In a separate development, scientists have discovered a method to transform male mouse embryos into female clones using CRISPR technology. By essentially cutting out the Y chromosome, they were able to create a female clone of a male mouse. This approach could prove useful in conservation efforts, particularly when dealing with species that have only a few remaining individuals.

Yet, cloning's applications extend beyond conservation, ranging from genetically modifying livestock to recreating pets and potentially creating "brainless" replicas of humans.

Meanwhile, Deanne Taylor, a scientist, is working to build a comprehensive map of childhood cells. In 2017, she attended a presentation about the Human Cell Atlas, an ambitious project to map every cell in the human body. However, the researchers only planned to study adult cells. Concerned that children's cells differ from adults in gene expression, Taylor pushed for the Human Cell Atlas to include children and is now developing a major database of healthy pediatric tissue.

This effort aims to provide researchers with a baseline for understanding children's development and potentially uncovering how adult-onset diseases begin much earlier.