Everybody loves a clone.

The good thing about the Raelians is that you can't make stuff like this up. It's proof that truth is stranger than fiction. Leave it to a cult group to make an outrageous announcement that they have produced the first clone baby, and the media will come in droves.

I've got to remember this trick for my next PR campaign.

There's just one problem though: the Raelians missed the boat by a long shot. They are hardly the first people to create a human clone. It's true. In fact, cloning happens at least once in every 8,000 births. Does this mean that there are millions of people that are the progeny of space aliens? Hardly, unless you read my favorite tabloid, the Weekly World News.

But I'm serious about the number of clone babies that are born each year. Who are they? There's a logical explanation: one in every 8,000 births produces identical twins.

Think about it.

Unlike the first attempt by the Raelians or some other group of mad scientists, identical twins have a much better shot at being born without serious defects. Even the man who successfully cloned Dolly the sheep will explain that it took over 200 attempts before they were able to create a successful birth. And even then, poor Dolly is aging prematurely and has a number of defects.

We have a long way to go before we can successfully play with mother nature. Unfortunately, I doubt that the press will discuss that. So maybe it's time to send in the clones.