To see how easy it is to write for Copperwiki, come to Copperwiki

The Copperwiki community is a community of readers and writers who play upon each other.

The writers create content to attract readers. From among these readers emerge those readers who contribute themselves. These readers-turned-writers provide new content, which in turn attracts new readers some of whom will become writers. This way the wiki community snowballs.

Some know a lot about something, others know something about something

All these readers, writers, reader-turned-writers know something. Some know a lot about something, others know something about something. The various levels of knowledge will be used to create a vast resource for everyone.

How to get started?

One way to get started editing CopperWiki is to browse through topics in your area of expertise from the different categories:

Art and Entertainment
Business and Politics
Fashion and Beauty
Food and Drinks
Home and Living
Health and Spirituality
Science and Technology
Travel and Culture

Once you find the topic of your interest it is possible that you may find: the article is either not written well, is incorrect, or an important piece of information is missing.

What you can do?

Once you spot the above, this gives you the opportunity to add the entry or edit the relevant passage. If you find that any important information is missing you can go ahead and add it while you are editing the entry. As you are more familiar with the topic, you are in a better position to judge whether the flow of the article makes sense. If not, you can change the structure and the presentation.

If you are a better reader than writer

Most of us are interested in learning new things every day. If you are one of such people, writing, or adding what you have learnt in Copperwiki is another great way of getting started.

You can join or start a discussion It is not mandatory to write an article each time you visit Copperwiki. Your views in the ‘Discussion’ section will also be of great value for the readers. Click on the ‘Discussion’ button on the top, write and save. It’s as simple as that.

Formatting the articles

What appears to be the biggest hurdle to contributing to Copperwiki is the wiki mark-up language used to format the article.

What to do:

Do not be intimidated by the mark-up language.

They are very easy to understand once you get started with Copperwiki.

Remember that the mark-up language is not something you have to tackle right at first

A markup language is really something as simple as a comma tells a reader to pause slightly, and a period tells a reader to pause a little longer.

In wiki markup languages, a double square bracket around a word might indicate a link to another article, and a series of equal signs (=== ===) might indicate the bolded title of a section. On clicking on the Edit button you will be take to the edit page containing all the edit tags on top.

Start editing without worrying about the mark-up language

When you get started editing articles in Copperwiki, do not bother about the mark-up language. In fact, you can ignore them in the beginning.

Concentrate on the writing and grammar outside of the markup sections. As you grow used to it, you will begin to learn the symbols by association -- seeing a link in the text and seeing brackets around it while editing will teach you that brackets create links.

Once you are absolutely comfortable you may look at CopperWiki Guide To First Timers and Contributors Guide for more details.

Coming Soon: Biological single parent

With progress in stem-cell research the day may not be far when a single individual could be both mother and father to a child. And if the samples of their stem cells are stored in advance, the individual need not be living at the time of the birth of the child.

It hasn’t happened yet, but stem cell research shows enormous possibilities. The possibility has been put forward in a paper published in the journal Cell Stem Cell by the University of Alberta's Tim Caulfield and his colleagues.

Wouldn’t be a clone

A child created with egg and sperm derived from one person wouldn’t be a clone - or genetically identical to the parent - because of the mixing and matching in the chromosomes that takes place when egg and sperm are formed.

In a number of countries scientists are able to turn adult skin cells into stem cells. After reprogramming, these cells regain the superhero-like powers of embryonic stem cells and can be turned into many of the specialized cells that make up the human body, including blood, brain or muscle cells.

The possibilities being explored are reprogramming stem cells originally taken from an individual and coaxing them into becoming sperm, while others are transformed into eggs.

Ethical issues

But as with all stem cell issues, ethical questions are being raised once again. Should biological single parenthood be allowed if it proves possible? What are the risks to a child created in this way? Could skin cells from one child be used to create another son or daughter? Could someone steal a skin cell from someone famous and have their baby?