Inside the Very Strange World of Billionaire John Sperling

John Sperling was in his office in Phoenix when he got the call. His longtime friend Lou Hawthorne was phoning to tell him that scientists at Texas A&M University had successfully cloned a cat, the first-ever genetically engineered pet. That was great news for Sperling, the sole funder of the project. Back in 1997, he and Hawthorne had selected a team of genetic experts and given them lots of money for research. In went Sperling's $4 million and out came a purring bundle of fur. Yet it wasn't exactly what the billionaire Arizona businessman had hoped for. In fact, Sperling wasn't all that excited by the news. What he'd really been wanting to do was clone his dog.

Missy, an affable 15-year-old mutt (three-quarters Border collie and a quarter Siberian husky), is the real reason the world now has a cloned cat. Sperling knows that when Missy dies he could simply get another dog, but he thinks that his chances of finding one just like her are slim. "She's an incredible athlete. Utterly courageous and fearless. She'll get on top...