Category Archives: Cloning

Dec 11, 2019 03:29 AM EST

DNA stores nature's information. It's one of the best data storage on Earth and can beat even the most advanced cryptography techniques to date. The sequence of the same molecules of the same number can mark the difference between a banana and a slime mold, which sounds eerily like existing encryption techniques.

This is why computational biologist Yaniv Erlich thought of something that could be considered as a sort of "DNA of Things".

Since DNA can compress a large amount of information, Erlich is among those that have been working on DNAas data storage. One of his recent forays into the field is on how DNA could be integrated into everyday objects. By doing this, Erlich suggests that interconnectivity between gadgets could be brought about not just in how they communicate with each other over wavelengths (an industry favorite calledthe Internet of Things, or IoT for short), but also in how the information is embedded into the material of the gadgets themselves.

Along with nanoparticles specialist and partner for the project Robert Grass, Erlich went to ETH Zurich to borrow their 3D printer. Grass previously created a method to encase DNA molecules in glass shells and 2013 had developed a way to create silica particles such that when a positive electrical charge came into contact with negatively charged DNA, the silica particle would stick to it. The thin film made it possible for the fragile molecule to survive changes in temperature, pH levels, and UV light, thereby limiting the chance of losing the information encoded.

The 3D figure the duo created using this technique was that of a bunny figurine-the Stanford Bunny, to be exact. As one of the first images students learn to generate in 3D modeling, the bunny was used as both homage and something of an inside joke.

The figurine's polymer matrix was composed of trillions of Grass's microscopic beads, each containing molecules of synthetic DNA, which was encoded with a blueprint of the Stanford Bunny. The figurine itself, then, contained the instructions on how a 3D printer could replicate all the curves and contours of the Stanford Bunny. Cutting off a piece of the figurine, it would be possible to create an exact clone of itself, much like how cells in a body could instruct it to heal and renew itself. Or, as Erlich puts it, like pulling a rabbit out of a rabbit.

Putting theory into practice, Grass's team took a small piece of the original bunny they made and dissolved the plastic and glass away, converted the DNA left into a digital file and uploaded it to a 3D printer to create another replica of the bunny figurine. At the end of it, the researchers created up to five consecutive generations of bunnieswithout losing any data during the production process, described in detail in Nature Biotechnology.

This groundbreaking study not only demonstrates the use of cloning non-organic material but also redefines the ways data storage could be secured. Aside from storing health records into medical implants, the team also recommends the viability of the DNA of Things as a way to facilitate the development of self-replicating machines. While the tools used in the experiment such as the 3D printer are still either commercially unavailable or significantly expensive, the scalability of the DNA of Things was thoroughly explored by the team and proves to be worth further study.

2018 NatureWorldNews.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

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DNA Embedded Into Everyday Objects Creates Perfect Clones of the Stanford Bunny - Nature World News

Grieving pet owners are forking out thousands of pounds to clone their beloved pets in a bid to keep their memories alive.

Cloning gives owners the chance to extend the loving bond they shared with their pet but with an identical twin animal.

ViaGen Pets and Equine is able to clone cats, dogs and horses by taking tissue cells from an animal which are then frozen and stored.

Once the pet owner is ready to begin cloning, the company uses a small portion of cells to form an embryo which is then transferred into a surrogate dog.

ViaGen offers Genetic Preservation for a cool $1600 (1200) with cloning services ranging anywhere from $50,000 (38,000) to $85,000 (65,000) depending on the animal.

But for some - the price tag doesn't matter as pet owners usually preserve their pet's DNA during harrowing times.

ViaGen Client Service Manager Melain Rodriguez said: "Most clients are preserving their pet's DNA when the pet is approaching the end of its life or just after the pet has passed away.

"The pet is often the best dog, cat or foal they've ever had and the thought of being without their animal is too much to bear.

"Preserving the DNA through Genetic Preservation offered the pet parent hope and peace.

"It helps keeps the pet's memory alive and give the pet parent hope, knowing that they could clone that pet someday."

Melain speaks from experience and revealed she took steps to preserve both of her dogs after they passed away a year ago.

She said: "I have two of my own dogs' cells cryopreserved.

"They both passed away about a year ago and the older one Zeus was 13 when passed.

"He was my husband's sidekick and best buddy.

"We'd love to clone Zeus someday and have a little piece of him back."

Melain is also the mum pet mum to gorgeous cloned Bengal cat Benji.

The cat Benji was cloned from was owned by a friend of Melain who is a Bengal cat breeder.

He cloned his favourite male cat Prestige and 2 kittens were born as a result.

"In most situations, the client wants to take all kittens or puppies that are born, but because this owner was a friend of mine, and he knew how much I loved Prestige, he was gracious enough to give Benji to me and he kept the other kitten," Melain told Daily Star Online.

Prestige and Benji are extremely similar and have the same temperament but do differ.

Melain said: "Benji is a bit more rotund than Prestige.

"Benji loves to eat in his spare time but Prestige loves to chase girl cats in his spare time."

Melain said ViaGen manage the pet owners expectations by making sure they understand the animal is not a reincarnation of the original pet but an identical twin.

She said: "The cloned animal will most likely have different experiences that will help mould the personality of the pet but the underlying temperament and intelligence of the pet is highly influenced by its genetics which will be the same.

"If a pet has a disease or illness that is genetically linked - then the pet owner needs to be aware that the cloned animal will have the same genetics and the same genetic potential to develop that same disease or illness at some point in its life."

The self-proclaimed animal lover said she understands some may not understand the need for the service but the company fulfils a need that cannot be met in any other manner.

She said: "We understand that many people believe strongly that breeders should not increase the dog or cat populations with new puppies or kittens until shelters are no longer needed for unwanted dogs or cats.

"But we also see a space for responsible breeders and we have seen where our services can fulfil a need that cannot be met in any manner."

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Dead dogs and cats cloned by grieving owners to have a piece of them back' - Daily Star

The Research Corporation report says, A global Voice Cloning Market focused on in-depth analysis of the market with detailed analysis of market size and growth. The analysis includes market share by value, product and region. The report also provides a detailed analysis of online sports betting in terms of global value. This report provides a detailed analysis of the European Voice Cloning Market. This includes market by value, market share by product, and market size of key products. The report also provided a brief regional analysis of North America Country (United States, Canada), South America, Asia Country (China, Japan, India, Korea), Europe Country (Germany, UK, France, Italy), Other Country (Middle East, Africa, GCC).

Voice cloning is a highly desired feature for personalized speech interfaces. We introduce a neural voice cloning system that learns to synthesize a person's voice from only a few audio samples. In speech synthesis, generative models can be conditioned on text and speaker identity

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Huge Outlay on Voice Cloning Market Growth Analysis and Forecasting with Major Players are Baidu Inc, Google LLC, Lyrebird.ai, iSpeech AG, VivoText...

No discussion on image processing can be complete without talking about OpenCV. Its 2500+ algorithms, extensive documentation and sample code are considered world-class for exploring real-time computer vision. OpenCV supports a wide variety of programming languages such as C++, Python, Java, etc., and is also available on different platforms including Windows, Linux, OS X, Android, and iOS.

OpenCV-Python, the Python API for OpenCV is one of the most popular libraries used to solve computer vision problems. It combines the best qualities of OpenCV, C++ API, and the Python language. The OpenCV-Python library uses Numpy, which is a highly optimized library for numerical operations with a MATLAB-style syntax. This makes it easier to integrate the Python API with other libraries that use Numpy such as SciPy and Matplotlib. This is the reason why it is used by many developers to execute different computer vision experiments.

At the PyData Warsaw 2018 conference, Sylwek Brzczkowski walked through how to implement a face swap using OpenCV and Python. Face swaps are used by apps like Snapchat to dispense various face filters. Brzczkowski is a Python developer at TrustStamp.

Histogram of oriented gradients (HOG) is a feature descriptor that is used to detect objects in computer vision and image processing. Brzczkowski demonstrated the working of a HOG using square patches which when hovered over an array of images produces a histogram of oriented gradients feature vectors. These feature vectors are then passed to the classifier to generate a result having the highest matching samples.

In order to implement face detection using HOG in Python, the image needs to be imported using import OpenCV. Next a frontal face detector object is created for the loaded image detector=dlib.get_frontal_face_detector(). The detector then produces the vector with the detected face.

Face landmark detection is the process of finding points of interest in an image of a human face. When dlib is used for facial landmark detection, it returns 68 unique fashion landmarks for the whole face. After the first iteration of the algorithm, the value of T equals 0. This value increases linearly such that at the end of the iteration, T gets the value 10. The image evolved at this stage produces the ground truth, which means that the iteration can stop now. Due to this working, this stage of the process is also called as face alignment.

To implement this stage, Brzczkowski showed how to add a predictor in the Python program with the values shape_predictor_68_face_landmarks.dat such that it produces a model of around 100 megabytes. This process generally takes up a long time as we tend to pick the biggest clearer image for detection.

The convex hull is a set of points defined as the smallest convex polygon, which encloses all of the points in the set. This means that for a given set of points, the convex hull is the subset of these points such that all the given points are inside the subset. To find the face border in an image, we need to change the structure a bit. The structure is first passed to the convex hull function with return points to false, this means that we get an output of indexes. Brzczkowski then exhibited the face border in the image in blue color using the find_convex_hull.py function.

In a linear filtering of an image, the value of an output pixel is a linear combination of the values of the pixels. Brzczkowski put forth the example of Affine transformation which is a type of linear mapping method and is used to preserve points, straight lines, and planes. On the other hand, a non-linear filtering produces an output which is not a linear function of its input. He then goes on to unveil both the transitions using his own image. Brzczkowski then advised users to check the website learnOpenCV.com to learn how to create a nonlinear operation with a linear one.

A Delaunay triangulation subdivides a set of points in a plane into triangles such that the points become vertices of the triangles. This means that this method subdivides the space or the surface into triangles in such a way that if you look at any triangle on the image, it will not have another point inside the triangle. Brzczkowski then demonstrates how the image developed in the previous stage contained face points from which you can identify my teeth and then create sub div to the object, insert all these points that I created or all detected. Next, he deploys Delaunay triangulation to produce a list of two angles. This list is then used to obtain the triangles in the image. Post this step, he uses the delaunay_triangulation.py function to generate these triangles on the images.

To recap, we started from detecting a face using HOG and finding its border using convex hull, followed it by adding mouth points to indicate specific indexes. Next, Delaunay triangulation was implemented to obtain all the triangles on the images.

Next, Brzczkowski begins the blending of images using seamless cloning. A seamless cloning combines the attributes of other cloning methods to create a unique solution to allow sequence-independent and scarless insertion of one or more fragments of DNA into a plasmid vector. This cloning method also provides a variety of skin colors to choose from.

Brzczkowski then explains a feature called pass on edit image in the Poisson image editing which uses the value of the gradients instead of the identities or the values of the pixels of the image.

To implement the same method in OpenCV, he further demonstrates how information like source, destination, source image destination, mask and center (which is the location where the cloned part should be placed) is required to blend the two faces. Brzczkowski then depicts a string of illustrations to transform his image with the images of popular artists like Jamie Foxx, Clint Eastwood, and others.

In computer vision, the Lucas-Kanade method is a widely used differential method for optical flow estimation. It assumes that the flow is essentially constant in a local neighborhood of the pixel under consideration, and solves the basic optical flow equations for all the pixels in that neighborhood, by the least-squares criterion. Thus by combining information from several nearby pixels, the LucasKanade method resolves the inherent ambiguity of the optical flow equation. This method is also less sensitive to noises in an image.

By using this method to implement the stabilization of the face swapped image, it is assumed that the optical flow is essentially constant in a local neighborhood of the pixel under consideration in human language. This means that if we have a red point in the center we assume that all the points around, lets say in this example is three on three pixels we assume that all of them have the same optical flow and thanks to that assumption we have nine equations and only two unknowns.

This makes the computation fairly easy to solve. By using this assumption the optical flow works smoothly if we have the previous gray position of the image. This means that for face swapping images using OpenCV, a user needs to have details of the previous points of the image along with the current points of the image. By combining all this information, the actual point becomes a combination of the detected landmark and the predicted landmark.

Thus by implementing the Lucas-Kanade method for stabilizing the image, Brzczkowski implements a non-shaky version of his face-swapped image. Watch Brzczkowskis full video to see a step-by-step implementation of a face-swapping task.

You can learn advanced applications like facial recognition, target tracking, or augmented reality from our book, Mastering OpenCV 4 with Python written by Alberto Fernndez Villn. This book will also help you understand the application of artificial intelligence and deep learning techniques using popular Python libraries like TensorFlow and Keras.

Getting to know PyMC3, a probabilistic programming framework for Bayesian Analysis in Python

How to perform exception handling in Python with try, catch and finally

Implementing color and shape-based object detection and tracking with OpenCV and CUDA [Tutorial]

OpenCV 4.0 releases with experimental Vulcan, G-API module and QR-code detector among others

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Master the art of face swapping with OpenCV and Python by Sylwek Brzczkowski, developer at TrustStamp - Packt Hub

Fraudsters siphoned off 12 crore from two bank accounts of India's premier medical institute, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), by allegedly using 'cloned cheques' over the past one month.

The money has been siphoned off from the bank accounts the medical institute has with the State Bank of India (SBI). The bank has initiated an internal enquiry into the matter.

A top placed source in Delhi Police told IANS on the condition of anonymity, "This is a case of cyber crime. The accounts from which 12 crore have been withdrawn are operated by the AIIMS director and the Dean. 7 crore were withdrawn from the account operated by the Director whereas 5 crore were withdrawn from the account held on the name of the Dean."

If sources are to be believed, the AIIMS in its report sent to the Union Health Ministry held responsible for the fraud.

The SBI has also alerted all its branches and advised its employees against paying high value cheques issued by AIIMS, New Delhi.

A Delhi Police source said: "The hospital administration has already informed the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police, which has initiated a probe."

A hospital source said that the fraudsters made attempts to siphon off over 20 crore from SBI's non-home branch in Dehradun and 9 crore from Mumbai in the last one week by allegedly using the cloned cheques. However, they failed in their attempts.

NH WEB DESK ADDS:

Media reports in 2016 had reported that a gang of five persons, who were involved in a fraud involving encashment by forging bank cheques had been busted in Uttar Pradesh

The gang initially tried taking photographs of cheques issued by companies. They then duplicated the cheques by chemically altering the number and forging signatures by tracing the signature. They also called the bank and obtained the balances in the account giving some details such as the last payment made.

Media reports had quoted police as saying that the gang used the cheque leaves issued to themselves while opening the account and created the forged cheques by altering the Cheque Number. They managed to encash the Account Payee cheques.

The Reserve Bank of India had come up with a set of guidelines for banks to ensure preventive measures to lower cheque frauds. One measure aimed to employ mobile technology in the form of SMS alerts to be sent out as soon as a cheque is received for clearing

Another step to scrutinise large value cheques was to alert customers via phone calls and obtain confirmations from the drawer/payer of the cheque. RBI had stated that banks should exercise extra caution while clearing cheques that are above a certain threshold value.

Account holders were also advised to follow the following steps:

What is surprising is that the AIIMS Director or Dean apparently were neither alerted nor were the recipients of SMS alerts.

Attempts to contact the Director, AIIMS for a comment proved abortive. We will update the report as and when we hear from them.

Original post:

In the digital age fraudsters dupe AIIMS of 12 crore by cloning cheques and signatures - National Herald

Its a good time to be a Star Wars fan.

Jedi: Fallen Order is the best Star Wars video game in years. Comics and spinoff novels like Doctor Aphra and Resistance Reborn are introducing all kinds of fun new characters and expanding the Star Wars mythos in interesting ways. The Galaxys Edge theme park is everything we hoped it would be. Theres more Clone Wars on the horizon. And Obi-Wan. And Cassian Andor.

And then weve got The Mandalorian and Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker.

The Mandalorian is Disney+s flagship title, the first live-action Star Wars TV show, and a groundbreaking technological achievement. The Rise of Skywalker is the final chapter in the Skywalker Saga, the story that began way back in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope and has propelled Star Wars forward ever since.

Together, they mark a massive shift for Star Wars, and following 2019, Star Wars is never going to be the same. But what if, in Star Wars new everything counts, Disneyfied-canon, theyre linked more than that? What if The Mandalorian sets up some of The Rise of Skywalkers biggest plot twists?

Its more likely than you may think. (Warning: Potential spoilers await ahead.)

The Mandalorians breakout star is Baby Yoda, a green-skinned, 50-year-old infant who seems to be, at the very least, the same species as Lukes old Jedi master. Its easy to see why hes so popular with the shows characters and viewers alike. The little guy is cute as a button, hes the key to one of the Star Wars Universes biggest mysteries, and his Force abilities are already extremely formidable.

So far, The Mandalorian hasnt explained what Werner Herzogs ex-Imperial warlord, known as the Client, is planning on doing with Baby Yoda, but the third episode dropped some hints. When the Mandalorian is surveying the Clients hideout, he overhears the Client talking about harvesting the babys genetic material. More importantly, Herzogs assistant, Dr. Pershing, has a patch on his costume that looks like the symbol of Kamino, the cloning facility featured in Attack of the Clones.

The Kamino backstory gets a little convoluted, but basically, the facilitys scientists were creating a secret clone army when they were discovered by Obi-Wan Kenobi. Soon-to-be Emperor Palpatine tricked the Republic into deploying the clone forces against the rebel Separatists, then used his new army to decimate the Jedi and establish the Galactic Empire.

However, clones soldiers had some problems. Because every member of the clone army came from the same genetic template, they were all susceptible to the same diseases. Palpatine also considered clones inferior, and preferred pure human soldiers act as the Empires representatives. Over time, the Emperor phased out the clones and replaced them with normal human Stormtroopers.

Still, The Mandalorian implies that not every member of the Empire agreed with Palpatine. If the Client is making clones a few years after Return of the Jedi, who knows how far the technology has gotten 25 years later when The Rise of Skywalker is set? If clones are still an ongoing concern, they could answer two of The Rise of Skywalkers biggest mysteries.

Going into The Rise of Skywalker, there are two big questions: Why is Rey so skilled with the Force, and how does Emperor Palpatine come back from the dead? Could The Mandalorians dabbling in cloning be implicit confirmation that, indeed, Rey is Palpatines clone?

Theres a precedent for this kind of thing. In the old Expanded Universe, which Disney deemed non-canon after it bought Lucasfilm in 2012, Palpatine cheated death via cloning in the Dark Horse comic book series Dark Empire. In that story, Palpatine reveals that hes gained immortality by transferring his consciousness to a series of clones, although his new bodies wear out quickly. Palpatine decides to possess Han and Leias third child and make its body his new, permanent form, but is defeated by Leia.

The Rise of Skywalker wont repeat the same beats, but it could borrow Dark Empires general concept. Clones are already a fundamental part of Star Wars lore, so JJ Abrams and his crew wouldnt have to invent anything new to explain Palpatines return. The heavy lifting is already done.

Similarly, Abrams remains evasive when asked why Rey is so talented. Recently, Rolling Stone asked Abrams how Rey learned to use the Force so quickly.Spooky, right? Abrams replied. Its not an accident.

Abrams teases hint that theres more to Reys background than The Last Jedi let on, and if Reys a clone of a powerful Force-user, it wouldnt violate anything established in Episode VIII. Technically, Star Wars clones dont have families. Theyre born in labs. Reys parents could literally be nobody, and as a clone, she could still be related to one of the most important characters in the galaxy.

Weve already theorized that Rey is a clone of Palpatine. The Mandalorians Kamino references back this up. Rey was born about 10 years after Return of the Jedi, and five years after the first season of The Mandalorian. That gives the Client and Dr. Pershing five years to perfect cloning technology and bring the Emperor back from the grave. If theyve already cloned (or tried to clone) Baby Yoda, then they have experience working with Force-sensitive subjects. Bringing Palpatine back maybe in a few different forms seems like the next logical step.

This could all be a red herring, of course. Maybe The Mandalorians clone references are just a nod to Star Wars history and nothing more. Still, The Mandalorians release schedule hints that the new show and movie might be further connected.

Under Disney, everything Star Wars is carefully coordinated. The second-to-last episode of The Mandalorian drops on Wednesday, December 18. The Rise of Skywalker debuts on December 20, with preview screenings on December 19. Dont be too surprised if the penultimate episode of The Mandalorians first season contains a big, clone-related reveal.

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How The Mandalorian could unravel The Rise of Skywalkers biggest mysteries - Digital Trends

One of the most exciting parts of Disneys new Star Wars series, The Mandalorian, is the appearance of Baby Yoda. The tiny green baby has captured the hearts of fans around the world, but he has also raised a lot of questions in the process. The show has yet to reveal what is going on with Baby Yoda, but a new fan theory could explain everything and it might have a major impact on Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

In a nutshell, the fan theory argues that Baby Yoda is not thereal Yoda, but he is a clone of the iconic character. If the theory is true,then it definitely clears up a lot of things in The Mandalorian, but italso set the stage for some big developments in Star Wars: The Riseof Skywalker.

In a recent interview, Oscar Isaac teased that the upcoming movie is the final bout in a larger chess match between the Sith and the Jedi. The actor did not reveal anything specific, but his comments could have been referring to the clone theory.

After all, what better way to defeat the Siths than to clone thebest Jedi Master of all time in Yoda? While this theory sounds good on paper,is there any evidence to suggest that Baby Yoda is actually a clone?

To back up the theory, the science of cloning was established in the animated Star Wars series, The Clone Wars. In the first episode of the show, titled The Lost One, the Jedi Sifo-Dyas was the first to initiate a plan to build a clone army.

His technology, however, was stolen by Palpatine and Count Dooku,but the fact that a Jedi started the whole cloning business lends credence tothe notion that Yoda was duplicated.

The only hole in the theory is that Siths were not a thing whenSifo-Dyas was around. But as a clairvoyant, there is a chance that Sifo-Dyasforesaw the rise of the Siths and wanted to create a clone of Yoda to combatthem.

If that is true, then it is possible that an adult Yoda clonewill appear in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker to combatPalpatine, who has already been featured in the trailers.

Yoda came face-to-face with Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith.Although he ultimately lost the fight, Yoda could easily return and make thingsright.

That is, of course, assuming that Baby Yoda is still alive during the events in The Rise of Skywalker. If he did survive this long, there is little doubt that he would be much older and in a prime position to take out Palpatine.

Yoda enjoyed a brief cameo in Star Wars: The Last Jedi,and most Star Wars fans loved that director J.J. Abrams brought him backto life. So why not go all out and bring him back as a full-on clone in thefinal chapter?

There is no question that most fans would love to see Yoda return to action in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. But until that happens, Baby Yodas fate on The Mandalorian remains a mystery.

Right now, the television show could go in several directionswith the character. For starters, the series could kill off Baby Yoda or puthim into captivity. Either of these scenarios would explain why we havent seenYoda crop up yet in the new trilogy.

Another option is that the Yoda clone could be whisked away tohide. He would not be the first character to live in exile in the franchise andit would open the door for him to return in The Rise of Skywalker.

Unfortunately, there is no telling what will become of Baby Yodain the series, but our fingers are crossed that he makes it out in one piece.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker premieres in theaters on December 20th.

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'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker': This 'Mandalorian' Baby Yoda Fan Theory Could Explain Everything - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

People like The Mandalorian, but people love Baby Yoda. The tiny, heartbreakingly beautiful, puppet in Disney Plus flagship Star Wars show is the object of awwwws across the internet, and the clear breakout star.

But the shows timeline, and how it fits into the Star Wars universe, means that the name weve come to be calling him isnt accurate. Its not probably Baby Yoda but does that mean its not Baby Yoda.

Lets break it down why The Mandalorians big mystery might be a little confusing to viewers who arent devoting hours to EU content and Wookieepedia.

The Mandalorian picks up five years after the events of Return of the Jedi and 25 years before The Force Awakens. This puts it around the time of the rise to power of the First Order, the main antagonists from the new trilogy. In fact, the First Order could even be connected to Warner Herzogs The Client character, who sends The Mandalorian on his mission to find Baby Yoda to begin with.

But what exactly does this mean for Baby Yoda?

In Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda is about 900 years old. (When 900 years old, you reach look as good, you will not!) That means hes the same age when he dies shortly after training Luke. We later see him appear as a Force ghost, letting us know that he has indeed passed on from the realm of the living.

The Mandalorian is set somewhere around 9 ABY (After the Battle of Yavin), which after cross-checking with various Star Wars timeline resources, puts it about six years after Yodas introduction in Empire. Since we know The Asset (Baby Yoda) is 50 years old in the show, well assume it was born 41 BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin) which also happens to be the birth year of Anakin Skywalker. So, Baby Yoda isnt Baby Yoda, since regular Yoda would have been very much alive at that time. There are a few other possibilities.

Lets talk about Yaddle. One of the most intriguing and mysterious of the additions to Star Wars canon from the prequel films, Yaddle was a Jedi Master and sat on the Jedi council. She was a female member of Yodas species, and until The Asset showed up, the only other member wed seen. So, were forced to ask: is Baby Yoda the child of Yoda and Yaddle?

If true, it would change the way we have to view Yoda. It would mean that he, like Anakin, had broken his Jedi vows, and even more importantly, that he just shipped his kid off to The Outer Rim almost 10 years before The Phantom Menace even started. On the other hand, since Yoda and Yaddle are both extremely Force sensitive, it explains where Baby Yodas fantastical Force powers came from.

This is where things get a little weird. In theory, Baby Yoda could be a clone of Yoda. We know cloning technology exists, thanks to Kamino and the clone army. The reasoning behind this cloning would be a little more hazy. Is it possible Yoda had himself cloned, so that he could help out in the future?

Or, was it Emperor Palpatine who cloned Yoda in hopes of making himself a highly powerful apprentice. In the expanded universe books, which are now part of the Star Wars Legends story and no longer canon, we know that Palpatine had an affinity for cloning and cloned himself many times.

While some of these theories may be a little out there, its important to remember that we dont necessarily have to stop calling The Asset Baby Yoda, but the better guess is that its just a new character of the same species. Still, The Clients crony Dr. Pershing did look like he was wearing Kamino paraphernalia in the premiere...

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When The Mandalorian takes place and what it means for Baby Yoda - Polygon

Welcome back, dear reader, to your one-stop-shop for all the latest and greatest theories and analysis following the airing of HBOs Watchmen S1E5 Little Fear of Lightning. As a reminder, this article will be chock-full of spoilers. Ive scrubbed internet forums, YouTube videos, podcasts, preview clips, and various interviews, so you dont have to. Be forewarned; if its publicly available, well be talking about it here.

If thats not your cup of tea, you might rather check out 25YLs weekly recap and review written by Laura Stewart this week.

Still here? Great! Chop-chop, everyone! Come on! Time is of the essence!

Here we review some of the real-world history that the series is pointing us to. Not much to talk about this week, but in anticipation of next weeks episode, with Angela Abar tripping through her grandfathers memories, heres at least one historical event we have a hint (see the PeteyPedia section) that we would do well to brush up on:

Three new files in the PeteyPedia files this week:

Yet another source of in-world data dumps has been HBO EXTRAS, an app for HBO Digital Latin America that gives additional background information at seemingly random times throughout the episode. Reddit user u/Bbkoul has been capturing images from these popups and posting them. The Episode 5 popups are mostly fluff unfortunately, but theyre mildly entertaining to read.

Speaking of background material from HBO, heres an interesting tidbit. Someone else on Reddit dug up a two year old casting call for Watchmen that gives a little blurb describing most of the main characters on the show. Whats changed is changed now, but this provides some interesting background on early thoughts about the characters and their stories. Worth taking a look.

In the closed captions (at least as captured by the wonderful Springfield! Springfield! site), when the Game Warden suddenly moves to cut Adrians helmet off, it reads (CLONES EXCLAIM). When Adrian declares that their god has abandoned them, the (CLONES EXCLAIM) once again. OK, yes, the closed captions are often wrong. But still.

We did have verifiable clones in this episode, in the form of the cloned animals at the Forever Pet clinic where Cynthia, Wades ex, works. The best meme of the week on Reddit is Heath Ledgers Joker saying, Drop fetuses on a lake and no one bats an eye. Drop a puppy in the incinerator and everybody loses their minds. Its also noteworthy that there seem to be a lot of twins working at that facility. Is human cloning a thing in this Watchmen universe? And if so, are they as cavalier about disposing of them?

In the wacky theories about who could be a clone department, one new and slightly interesting one did pop up on Reddit proposing that Angela actually did die on White Night, and that the Angela weve been seeing is a Nostalgia-fueled clone of her. I would write this off if I hadnt listened to an interview with Regina King (Angela Abar) did for the Previously On podcast from Sky Atlantic. Trying to avoid spoilers (yeah right), the host asks her, Ive just watched the season finale, how am I feeling? She answers, Um, youre feeling like, what?! No!! Is she Keep an eye on Angela, Im telling you.

So, if we believe Senator Keene (does Wade?), he came in after White Night to take over the Seventh Kavalry, and at the same time his buddy Judd took over the police. Since then, theyve each managed their respective teams to maintain the peace. So much for the masks save lives slogan of the Senators upcoming presidential campaign. More like conspiracies save lives, but thats not a very good campaign slogan to run on.

Also, if he is to be believed, he apparently has no idea who killed Judd. That wasnt part of their plan. He actually suspects Angela might have done it, or at least she knows who did (hes right on that last part). So, assuming he truly is in control of the Seventh Kavalry, it really wasnt them who killed the police chief. That tracks with the interrogation campaign the police has been conducting, which has yielded absolutely f**king nothing, as Laurie admonishes.

The Seventh Kavalry is definitely going to do something. Something original. Something that will presumably happen in a couple of days, because thats how long Keene needs Angela off the board while he wraps things up. Of course, Lady Trieu and Will Reeves are also going to do something in three days. Same thing? Well now, thats a good question.

We know Will Reeves was involved in Judds death. Hes the killer, in fact, if he is to be believed. That would seem to put the Keene-Crawford faction against the Trieu-Reeves faction. If we consider that Judd knew he was sacrificing himselfdulling the fear with cocaine, dressing in his full uniform, taking none of his subordinates with himwe have to consider the idea that maybe he flipped sides.

One of Keenes 7K guys stepped out of line and shot a cop, but it could have stopped there. Judd is the one who upped the ante on the police side of things. He authorized the release of guns, a move that he expected pushback from Angela on. Hes the one who pressed the Archie to its limits to blow up the 7K plane before it got away. Maybe whatever Keene is up to was unknown to Judd, or at least not agreed to. Maybe Trieu-Reeves clues him in on it and devises a counter plan, but it requires a sacrifice. Maybe Judd has some blood on his hands over White Night or Vietnam. Enough guilt to motivate his sacrifice for a larger goodto fall on one last grenade to save his people.

Could they all be in league together? We cant rule it out yet, but it seems unlikely. On one side, we have two white guys, controlling the two oppressing powers of white supremacy and government-sanctioned brutality. On the other side, we have the oppressed minorities, dealing with pharmaceuticals that share generational trauma. Do their timelines coincide because one is trying to stop the other then? Maybe, but it seems like they both have positive goals in mind. More likely one side is unknowingly playing patsy to the other, i.e. Trieu is using Keene.

We talked a bit last week about what Trieu could be up to with the Millennium Clock, so lets turn to what the 7K could be up to with the teleportation window. Theyre tuning it for a fairly close-in operation that needs precision. Theyre dropping objects from the ceiling, so its doubtful they are sending people. Besides, last we heard, this technology scrambles and kills organic creatures, and this is a model that was in use back in 1985. Sounds like precision bomb-dropping into a building or set of buildings. While it could be a government building, like maybe trying to complete what McVeigh was stopped from doing in 1995 (by Laurie Blake, mind you), there is one obvious tall structure in Tulsa that would make an excellent target for toppling.

This is our recurring section devoted to the best bits of Watchmen (IMHO), those involving the character formerly known as probably who you think he is. We now have two avenues to explore, present-day Veidt and 1985 Veidt. Lets start with the latter.

In his video message to the newly elected President Redford, Veidt starts with, Assuming my instructions have been followed to the letter. That implies he anticipated that he might not be around to deliver the tape in person. Interesting.

People are a bit freaked out by the idea that Veidt would leave evidence implicating himself in the giant squid hoax. They are saying this would not have been smart for the smartest man in the world to have doneeven going so far as to call it a retcon. I dont see it that way at all. Especially in light of the idea that he anticipated not being present to see phase two of his plan carried out. A phase two that apparently starts with the election of President Robert Redford, after allowing the world sufficient time to heal. He gives the video to Redford in order to win him over as a willing partner in that project.

In the video, Adrian says that hell have to maintain the peace with additional small-scale extra-dimensional events, which most are presuming refers to the squid-fall. If the tape implies he knew he might not be around, he may have set up something to keep the squid-fall going in his absence, even 30+ years later.

Now lets turn to the present day (more or less) Adrian Veidt. First of all, we now know hes on Europa, one of the four larger moons of Jupiter. Lindelof has confirmed this. Im amazed by how many quick turn-around podcasts mistook that looming planet in the background (those who even noticed it) for Mars or even Earththe astronomy geek in me wept a bit at that. The imaging satellite he was aiming for is likely Juno, which launched in 2011 and arrived in orbit in 2016 (in our world, at least). Time enough for Veidt to have been aware of it, assuming he left in 2012. Though counting on there being no issues with its final deployment upon arrival at Jupiter was a bit presumptive.

Its also clear now that he is in some sort of cloaked vivarium on that moon. Hmm, who likes to build vivariums in harsh environments? Oh, I know: Adrian Veidt. So dig this, assuming thats right, what Lindelof has done here is show us that Adrian Veidt was already working on phase two (or three) of his plan: getting humanity off-planet. We were shown this at the end of the Watchmen comic and just didnt know what we were seeing. If this is where they are going, and Id wager it is, thats the most amazing inclusion of the original source material yet.

This ties in with the PeteyPedia article from the New Frontiersman where the editor suggests at the end that the white supremacists get their butts to Mars. Heck, that might have even been something Adrian has planted into the public discourse to seed acceptance of the idea of colonization once it is revealed. Figuring that he cant resolve humanitys internal conflicts, only put them on hold through the use of fear, the goal of this phase would be to give us breathing room to dispel conflict. This would also explain why the Appropriations Committee (of which Senator Keene is a member) would be shown the Adrian Veidt video because they would need to be quietly funnelling funding from anti-squid defence to future colonization projects.

The one hard thing to distil out of this though is Veidts disdain for the maker, that god of the Philips / Crookshanks clones who has abandoned them. Maybe Veidt didnt work on those bits, having help from Dr. Manhattan (who wanted to work on creating life) or Lady Trieu (who works on cloning and fertility technology). Although Veidt does call their god a he, so probably not Lady Trieu. But labeling Dr. Manhattan as a god just seems a tad too obvious, right? The other possibility is (I hate to say it) this Veidt is a clone sent to babysit the prototype colony and his disdain is for the original Veidt, who got plastic surgery and retired to Argentina.

One last thing to discuss is Adrians message: SAVE ME D Everyone wants to know what the rest of that message is. Guesses include:

Theres a theory thats gaining traction, especially with me, that Lady Trieu could, in some manner, be working towards getting revenge for the United States actions in the Vietnam War. Certainly with Lady Trieu, Angela, and Cal all having ties back to Vietnam, our 51st state is going to become more of an influence on the story soon.

Laurie was requested by name to come to Oklahoma to lead the FBI investigation into Judd Crawfords death. Weve seen a future clips scene of Laurie tied to a chair in what is likely the same 7K headquarters in the abandoned department store, with another big red eye logo on the wall behind her. If someone were targeting Laurie, that would be a strike against both the Comedian, as his daughter, and Dr. Manhattan, as his former lover. As Wade puts it in his conversation with the radiologist at the bar, technically, Dr. Manhattan won Vietnam. Laurie could be the bait that would finally motivate Dr. Manhattan to return to Earth to save herstepping into a trap.

That would even say that Judds hanging was set into motion specifically to get Laurie to Oklahoma. Added bonus: Judd fought in Vietnam. A lot of us cant shake the nagging feeling that Judd knew he was going to his death, as I mentioned above. He was making a sacrifice for some larger good.

Instead of a trap to kill Dr. Manhattan, what if the empathy bomb (as many are calling this theory; we talked about it last week) is targeting him specifically, not the world at large? Trying to get him to care about humanity again, to step in and start helping. Maybe this is phase three of Veidts plan.

Speaking of the empathy bomb theory, some more support for this idea came when the guy in Wades support group talked about genetic trauma, locked into his mothers DNA so that he inherits her pain ten years later. Sounds just like what Bian is tapping into with her dream of the Vietnam War. We also got a data dump in the PeteyPedia files on the drug Nostalgia that, if nothing else, tells us that memory transfer is a real thing in this universe. Although like teleportation in the original Watchmen, its a dangerous technology that can go wrong and injure people when misused.

Many have commented on Lauries constant references to how good looking Cal is, humorously suggesting that Cal is Dr. Manhattan and thats why she is inexplicably attracted to him. If we assume though that, like everything else, Laurie already knew about his accident before she rolled into town, then perhaps it was a disfiguring accident and his recovery presents another one of those thermodynamic miracles. Maybe he was a masked vigilante in Vietnam and got injured doing so, which would be a good reason to want to hide it from Agent Blake. Perhaps he even died for a bit, which would explain why hes so confident that theres nothing after death.

In this section, Ill be pointing you to a few of the more interesting interviews with cast and crew:

In this section, I pose some of my own thoughts and any unique theories I might be harboring.

Firstly, a shout out to the Daily DVR podcast, which had me on Sunday night for their Initial Reaction podcast for this weeks episode. It was a blast, and I thank them so much for the opportunity. These guys are one of my go-to podcasts, doing three podcasts a week on each episode. Check them out.

Now on to the theories:

Thats it for this week. If you have any interesting theories or clever Easter eggs that I missed, let me know in the comments below, or catch me on Reddit as u/catnapspirit.

25YL is providing continual, in-depth coverage of HBOs Watchmen, including:

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Behind the Mask: Theories and Analysis for Watchmen S1E5 - 25YearsLaterSite.com

Ever since Daisy Ridley first appeared onscreen in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, fans have wondered about the origins of Rey and speculated that she might be a clone of some famous Jedi or Sith. Even after The Last Jedi revealed that she came from nothing, the mystery of Rey has only grown stronger, and a few subtle clues from Lucasfilms new live-action Star Wars show The Mandalorian could provide fodder for one of the most far-out theories yet about Reys origins ahead of a potential huge reveal in Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker.

Could Rey share some DNA with Yoda? It might sound ridiculous, but if you look carefully, the evidence is there to back this theory up.

Spoilers for The Mandalorian and speculation about The Rise of Skywalker ahead.

In case youve been hiding in a sarlacc pit and havent seen The Mandalorian yet, heres what you need to know. In the shows first episode, we learn that the main character (an anonymous bounty hunter played by Pedro Pascal) has been hired to find and retrieve a baby from the same green furry species as Yoda. Then, in Episode 2, it turns out this baby Yoda can already use the Force.

Meanwhile, one fan spotted an interesting detail about the scientist whos working with Werner Herzog. His outfit sports the same emblem seen on all the Jango Fett clones on Kamino back in the Star Wars prequels, which seems like pretty clear proof that hes a cloner with his sights set on the Yoda baby.

It seems likely that this scientist simply wants to clone the Yoda baby and create more Force-sensitive creatures. However, its also possible that his plan could be more complicated.

In the non-canonical Star Wars Legends universe, the Empire banned any and all research into midi-chlorians but allowed some top-secret research into the cloning of Force-sensitive creatures and how the process affected their midi-chlorian levels. This facility was controlled by Grand Admiral Thrawn, who was recently brought back into the Star Wars canon in a series of new books starting in 2017. So its possible some of that research happened in the current Star Wars canon. The scientist from The Mandalorian could even be from Thrawns secret cloning facility.

What does this mean? Well, if the scientists plan is to clone the Yoda baby or harness its midi-chlorians and give them to some other clone, that means there could be another powerful Force-user out somewhere in the galaxy with Yoda species DNA, potentially making it one of the most powerful beings around.

Sound familiar?

Sure, a lot of this is a stretch, but with Reys origins still a big mystery, and all the evidence suggesting The Rise of Skywalker will retcon her backstory in some way, this could be as good an explanation as any other. At the very least, The Mandalorian seems to be subtly reminding us that cloning is a key theme in the Star Wars franchise just ahead of Episode IXs release. And that cant just be a coincidence, can it?

The Mandalorian airs Fridays on Disney+. The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters on December 20.

Read more from the original source:

'Star Wars 9' theory: 'Mandalorian' cloning could retcon Rey's origins - Inverse